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Linux Is the Largest Software Development Project On the Planet: Greg K-H (cio.com)
sfcrazy writes: Greg Kroah-Hartmant, the Linux superstar, delivered a keynote at CoreOS Fest where he gave some impressive details on how massive is the Linux project. Kroah-Hartman said the latest release (4.5) made two months ago contains over 21 million lines of code. More impressive than the amount of code, and what truly makes Linux the world's largest software project is the fact that last year around 4,000 developers and at least 440 different companies that contributed to the kernel. Kroah-Hartman said, "It's the largest software development project ever, in the history of computing -- by the number of people using it, developing it, and now using it, and the number of companies involved. It's a huge number of people."
You know, that billy g. character is the richest man on earth, and he did it by starting what happened to become the biggest software company... selling shoddy software and crushing competitors using questionable tactics. As such "we're the biggest" is not an automatic badge of honour.
But hey, if you talk to the CxO macho men crowd, you gotta talk the talk, right? Tells us what use they are, really.
question assumptions pairing quality with quantity
"Greg Kroah-Hartmant, the Linux superstar,"
Uh, what? There are only two superstars in Linux: Linus and the guy who came up with systemd.
which has very minimal, I can even say non-existing, QA/QC and no unit tests at all.
Not so greatest then, considering the number of regressions in each kernel release.
Not so greatest then, considering that people get tired of adjusting their code to new APIs which inevitably leads to even more regressions.
Not so greatest then, considering that bug reports in bugzilla.kernel.org often receive zero attention and LKML posts are lost in the noise of hundreds of patches published every day.
You know, Greg, you don't sound convincing. You sound like a marketer of some dietary supplement.
I know this comment will be modded to hell by rabid Linux fanboys, but I'm just tired of this BS remarks made by open source advocates. The truth of course is a lot less exciting.
I don't think it has a larger number of software engineers of lines of code than Google's core codebase (hundreds of millions of lines of code, tens of thousands of software engineers).
"by the number of people using it, developing it, and now using it" ...I was using it before BUT now, after developing it, I'm *really using it now... :)
At first, I think this must make it more robust to long term changes. It raises a follow up question, though. How do those developers/companies group up by contribution? I'm sure most are working on server/enterprise applications, but any changes there might be equally interesting.
For comparison, I found articles citing 1000-2000 developers for Windows 7. I had no luck finding estimates for windows server.
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
Modern app appers app apps on Appdows 10, not LUDDITE software on LUDDITE Linux!
Apps!
The VMS operating system was estimated to contain over 25 million lines of code, and that was measured over 10 years ago - I'm sure it's quite a bit more by now.
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
My impression is
WRONG
it has many fewer users
a billion android devices will disagree with you
Thank you!
- RMS
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The VMS operating system was estimated to contain over 25 million lines of code, and that was measured over 10 years ago - I'm sure it's quite a bit more by now.
This is just the kernel. But most of it is arguably "not" kernel code... it's drivers. This is directly addressed in TFA:
All versions of VMS and OpenVMS together come nowhere near to running on as many different hardware platforms as Linux, so it would be shocking if Linux's drivers weren't massive in comparison.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's The Matrix - the fake reality we all live in. I heard The Architect made a fortune in stock options.
Taking the numbers at face value you get the following stats:
- with 4000 developers
- 2.7 lines of code added per day per developer
- 1.3 lines of code removed per day per developer
- 0.47 lines of code changed per day per developer
...because they still don't support Linux with their official logins, tax, banking etc. services.
In fact - BankID which is the most used login method just came out and said they'll drop Linux (which they did) support as the userbase was too small.
I also use Telia ID card login - with a card reader, even this is "hackishly" supported (officially unsupported, but I've gotten it to sorta kinda work), so people with Linux can't officially even register at the unemployment offices unless they have windows or a smartphone.
But hey, hopefully we're heading in the right direction - I've been a registered Linux user since 1998, and now exclusively use Linux for my Desktop. Every time I go to work and use Windows - I'm constantly reminded of an inferior system with endless updates, endless disk-trashing and endless limitation as a user.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
I thought the Linux wins were: serving the web,
Yep
cloud services,
Yep
android devices,
Yep
chromeOS [...],
Yep
medical devices,
What?
aerospace,
What?
routers,
What?
cars,
What?
ATMs,
WHAT?
Good idea.
Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 5.7). Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 7.1). Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 8.7).
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
By a lot.
Zippy is the largest pinhead on the planet. Over 18 billion polka dots.
See subject: ONLY reason it was used there is ZERO cost keeping handset costs down: Servers are 50/50 split (again due to cost largely but Linux makes a decent enough server) & desktop margin for Windows on PC's BLOWS AWAYS Linux (+ everyone else) by SO MANY MILES it's not even in sight Windows is SO FAR AHEAD!
APK
P.S.=> I wish you /. morons would wake up & cut the crap - don't get me wrong either: I actually *LIKE* Linux, but I don't like bullshit lies being spouted OR 1/2 truths - the REAL DEAL is up above from myself... What you just said is utter b.s. & RIGHT up there with what was UTTER BS spouted here circa 1999-2005 or so of "Linux = Secure, Windows != Secure" crap - ANDROID (it is a Linux w/ a Linux core) SHOWS US COMPLETELY OTHERWISE, being dusted DAILY with security flaws galore!
Funniest part is, ANDROID made you all stfu on that note pretty quickl y & even funnier still is, it's ONLY just beginning to take a beating on the security front (Windows has for decades & I'd wager that due to that, + having more features to cover + much more code to it, as Windows is the largest SINGLE programming artifact in existence bar-none, that you "penguins" will be taking security issues beatings for decades into the distance into the future)... apk
Millions of lines of code does not necessarily make a good software project. Which is better...a project that does X in 2 million lines of code...or a different project that also does X but only needs 500K lines of code to do it? In most cases the smaller code base is better; but you can sometimes make a function do something in just a few lines, but it takes you all day to figure out what those few lines mean. A bigger function with more lines might be much better because it is easier to follow, has more error checking, and is easier to maintain and update. I have also seen functions that were 2000+ lines long with GOTOs all over the place. It was a mess.
A joke and a rant are different things.
See subject: That was circa 1992-1998 @ ~30++ million lines - I'd wager Windows 2000/XP/7 ~ 50++ million lines in 7's my guess!
APK
P.S.=> Vista/8.x/10 are even larger but I don't consider "THEM" Windows, but some major fuckup by MS... apk
I thought Wikipedia and its sister Wikis, which together make up the Wikimedia project, are the largest software project on the planet, based on any number of metrics from number of contributors, code base (yes, Virginia, HTML, wiki markup and natural languages such as English, German, Russian, etc. are and should be considered as code), cultural impact, and geographical dispersal. For better or for worse, politicians and plagiarists alike use Wikipedia.
... but it's not a project.
Who's the sponsor? Who's the project manager? What are the goals and when are they scheduled to be completed? When is it scheduled to end?
If you can't answer those questions clearly and unambiguously, then whatever you're looking at, it's not a "project".
See subject & https://www.quora.com/Is-Andro... & it surely not Windows or MacOS X etc.!
* Google tries caring but drops the ball quite a lot... & from what I hear around here, as far as Android patches, it's mostly phone makers that aren't pushing patches to users as often as they ought to.
APK
P.S.=> Operating System are MORE than just a kernel as well... apk
One of the funny moments in the SCO vs IBM (over linux), where Darl McBride deliberately drove a company into a wall and gave most of the lucrative legal work to his brother, was a bit about a guy getting off a light plane in Germany with the entire printout of linux source code in his briefcase. They just had no clue at all about the size of the project and made such a silly gaffe, which when it comes down to it, is some very pointless petty perjury.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called “Linux”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
Many users do not understand the difference between the kernel, which is Linux, and the whole system, which they also call “Linux”. The ambiguous use of the name doesn't help people understand. These users often think that Linus Torvalds developed the whole operating system in 1991, with a bit of help.
Programmers generally know that Linux is a kernel. But since they have generally heard the whole system called “Linux” as well, they often envisage a history that would justify naming the whole system after the kernel. For example, many believe that once Linus Torvalds finished writing Linux, the kernel, its users looked around for other free software to go with it, and found that (for no particular reason) most everything necessary to make a Unix-like system was already available.
What they found was no accident—it was the not-quite-complete GNU system. The available free software added up to a complete system because the GNU Project had been working since 1984 to make one. In the The GNU Manifesto we set forth the goal of developing a free Unix-like system, called GNU. The Initial Announcement of the GNU Project also outlines some of the original plans for the GNU system. By the time Linux was started, GNU was almost finished.
Most free software projects have the goal of developing a particular program for a particular job. For example, Linus Torvalds set out to write a Unix-like kernel (Linux); Donald Knuth set out to write a text formatter (TeX); Bob Scheifler set out to develop a window system (the X Window System). It's natural to measure the contribution of this kind of project by specific programs that came from the project.
If we tried to measure the GNU Project's contribution in this way, what would we conclude? One CD-ROM vendor found that in their “Linux distribution”, GNU software was the largest single contingent, around 28% of the total source code, and this included some of the essential major components without which there could be no system. Linux itself was about 3%. (The proportions in 2008 are similar: in the “main” repository of gNewSense, Linux is 1.5% and GNU packages are 15%.) So if you were going to pick a name for the system based on who wrote the programs in the system, the most appropriate single choice would be “GNU”.
But that is not the deepest way to consider the question. The GNU Project was not, is not, a project to develop specific software packages. It was not a project to develop a C compiler, although we did that. It was not a project to develop a text editor, although we developed one. The GNU Project set out to develop a complete free Unix-like system: GNU.
Many people have made major contributions to the free software in the system, and they all deserve credit for their software. But the reason it is an integrated system—and not just a collection of useful programs—is because the GNU Project set out to make it one. We made a list of the programs needed to make a complete free system, and we systematically found, wrote, or found people to write everything on the
So what?
Because almost every driver is part of "linux-kernel", it is big and bloated - I bet there is still ancient 3com ISA-card code by this nasa guy, Becker..
Windows at least has DDK and working driver model.
Did he also check how many people work on M$ windblows?
Linux is great and Linus deserves a ton of praise. But there's nothing good about being biggest. I suspect SystemD has played a big role in the Linux project becoming so big. If the kernel without the bootloader, et al is 20+ million LOC - YIKES!!
There are some very convenient things for desktop users now.... That's an important part of growing the user base....
All this post does for me is stress me out.
Every rule has more than one consequence.