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Three-year Anniversary of Kernel Traffic
Eric Gibson writes: "Thought everybody might want to know, today is the three-year anniversary of kernel traffic. The site for those of us that want to like to keep up with the goings-on of the kernel mailing list, but can't afford to read 1500+ emails a day. ;-) Congratulations to the maintainer who has kept this site alive, through trial and tribulation."
I'm truly glad it's there for reference. I really miss some of the sites that have been more or less lost (ie www.linuxhq.com, www.webwatcher.org,etc). Today's economy and the maintainers lack of time/interest have taken their tolls.
The site says that, last week, there were a little over 2700 emails total...
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
How can one even HAVE a mailing list with 1500+ messages/day?
Unless of course, you're talking about Hotmail. I don't remember signing up for any lists, but I sure do enjoy the hilarious back-and-forth conversations between the people trying to sell graphic p0rn and the people convinced that we should all be selling real estate for a profit!
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Come on guys, they get *extra* props for having a URL like that. :)
Does that mean KT turns 3?
I see comments like this one regularly, and I'm really not sure why. I'm a subscriber to the kernel mailing list, and rarely get over 100 emails a day (max 150), all of which get dumped into a kernel-traffic folder which is quite easy to browse through and delete, as well as keep one's self up-to-date on kernel developments. I would think the more people involved in Linux kernel development with _constructive_ bug reports the better things would be. Comments like this really aren't doing anything besides giving a false impression, and would certainly encourage anyone looking for some good reading material to sign up and set aside a mail folder for it.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
This site is so useful not only for those of us who can't follow the huge volume of email, but also for people who either got into the game late or only read sporadically. It's sort of like jumping into a TV show in the 8th season and having a wonderful reference to give you background on the first 7. Thanks so much to everyone at kernel traffic!
They're not all dumb like that, but a lot of them are. Especially the Linux ones who seem to have no concept of "endusers". They think EVERYONE must like to edit obscure .conf files to make changes to their software, or that everyone likes to hit , w! , q to save their text document, as opposed to having a nice diskette icon they can click on.
No just your average VB programmer. That's odd on the java side most java programmers i know are fairly computer literate. But it's a varied trade these days, you can't expect one person to know everything. Then again, I hate computers I'm going to find a career less digital. Like...serial killing. Clarise!
It is almost one message per minute! How do they keep up with this amount of messages? Why don't they split different issues to different lists?
I am no kernel hacker, just a lowly information technology worker who wants to keep up-to-date on the comings and goings with Linux development. Ok, I admit it, I am just a bit of a gawker when it comes to free software development theory. I religiously read the abridged kernel traffic every Monday. That is good stuff (all nice and technical) to start the day off with. I recommend it to anyone who wants to stay hip and with it (and hey, you get to see the real Alan and real Linus every now and then).
Keep it up guys!
Kernel traffic is doing everybody who has limited bandwidth a favor. It increases awareness of Kernel issues, even to those who know they won't become active developers.
The original post was obviously hyperbole, but having subscribed to the list myself, I know how quickly lkml can eat up your disk quota if you aren't vigilant.
Zack Brown deserves props specifically for the bug reports you mentioned. If I found a kernel bug, I wouldn't have previously known how to report it, or whether it was already reported, without sifting through tons of mailing list archives.
I read kernel traffic weekly, and I feel like the few minutes I spend reading it really keeps me on top of what's going on.
Overall, people with a 56k modem cannot deal with lkml, and they shouldn't have to.
Grumble, Grumble
Your sample is skewed then. The vast (and I mean vast) majority of Java programmers only know one other language: Visual Basic.
99% of Java programming is YADBBWP (Yet Another DB Backed Web Page) and its only real competition there is VBScript'd ASPs.
When I first started getting interested in the kernel I subscribed to the mailing list and was immediately overwhelmed by the traffic. I soon found Kernel Traffic and unsubscribed from the mailing list and was happy.
The truth is, though, that while KT gives a good overview of some areas of the mailing list, it misses a lot. This is obvious, of course; cutting 100's of posts a day down to one moderate weekly summary is going to leave a lot of information. But to be honest, though I admire and appreciate Zach Brown's efforts, I wonder what criteria he uses for deciding what threads to cover. I sometimes feel he has left out some fairly important/interesting stuff while quoting huge gobs of somewhat trivial (imho) threads.
Anyone who is seriously interested in the kernel internals shouldn't really be relying on KT too much. Head over to kernelnewbies and start reading the real list. I recommend a good filternig system to help you separate out the chaff, though.
dan.
-- ;-)
Kuro5hin.org: where the good times never end.
Pretty cool site. Now I can use it to find out more about those brief descriptions they put in the kernel changelogs.
--BluNereid
"Neither life nor happiness can be acheived by the pursuit of irration whims." --Ayn Rand
I used to subscribe to lkml, and I was getting 200 messages per day. I unsubscribed around March 2001, so maybe the traffic has changed a little since then.
An LKML Flood dwarfs the Slashdot Effect.
I think that a little bit of exaggeration isnt doing any harm, since it keeps passer-bys/casual observers at bay. It is meant for people who really need to know the latest, or take decisions (aka Linus, Alan, Rik, Dave etc. etc.).
Unnecessary questions on this list would bog down these developers too much. I think exagerration works to keep this list like a holy grail and prevent casual observers from posting newbie questions onto it
The statement below is true.
The statement above is false.
On the plus side, that must mean 2.4.17 is somewhat stable. :)
-Legion