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Interview: Ask Alan Cox
If you've been using Linux or reading Slashdot for more than a few months, we don't need to tell you about Alan Cox. (If you are new to Linux and/or Slashdot you can learn more about him here.) Anyway, this is your chance to ask Alan anything you want. Post your question(s) below. Moderators will choose the most interesting ones. Answers will appear Friday. Please try to ask only one question per post. Thanks.
I always see that you've created a new piece of software, or a new device driver, getting new hardware, etc. My question is, how much of your software development is done because of a contract, and how much just for the fun of developing?
Do you think that non-x86 versions of Linux will forever remain on the periphery, or will Linux actually become a force for platform independence?
(currently testing something about signatures here)
I see lots of Anonymous Coward postings signed by you! ;)
Geeky modern art T-shirts
1.Alan with the large amount of money being suddenly pumped into Linux and the media coverage do you ever wish back for the good old days when Linux was unknown to most people?
2. Do you think the lucrative jobs opening up for Linux developers will cause people to defect to the coporate world and hurt Linux as a whole ?
3. Do you see yourself still working on Linux 5 years from now ? What about other people on the Kernel mailing list ? And do you think the quality of the code people now write for Linux is still up to the standards of the old days ?
4. What are your thoughts on the Red Hat IPO ?
5. Who do you think is the most underrated contributor to the Linux movement ?
finall thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.
Vidi, vici, veni. (I saw, I conquered, I came)
Okay, there's not a Linux hacker on the face of the planet who wouldn't kill to have your job.
- Paid by RHADL.
- Wake up when you want, work when you want.
- Go to all the big trade shows.
- Work with the likes of Linus and all the other regulars.
- Get free toys (and I mean good toys) like PA-RISC systems from HP and Athlons from AMD.
But it wasn't always that way. Back before even RedHat paid you, back when you hacked on your aging spare equipment, what drew you to it? How did you know this was what you wanted to do before you knew about all the perqs involved, or that there would ever be perqs?
I'm always concerned with redundancy and I think the linux kernel development could benifit from it the same way our servers can. If something were to happen to Linus (albeit very tragic) would you or someone else be able to take the weight that he bears for the kernel development process? I fear that the community is putting all it's eggs in one basket and perhaps you are the only viable replacement.
-Aaron Dokey
----------------- Who is Jesus?
First....where is linux's smp heading? 2.2 gave us major changes in that area.....any more comming with 2.4?
Second....how is the new quicker release cycle going to affect kernel development in your opinion? Is it going to slow down/speed up anything? Or is it just so suits realise that development IS being done....
Third....how is the whole linux-on-sgi thing going? You were originally the guy behind that....what's your opinion on the sgi embracing linux stuff happening now?
Alan,
I am very interested in kernel development and writing device drivers. I'm reasonably well versed in C, and I own the "Writing Linux Device Drivers" book, but even still I find learning these things daunting. Could you delineate a strategy by which one could get started in kernel development? If you could make a list, step 1 through step n, of "Things to do to be able to join in developing the Linux kernel", what would it be?
A learning strategy would be helpful. For example: how do you test a device driver? Where do you start? How do you get the design specs for hardware memory registers? etc.
Thanks
I notice here that you were involved in the creation of the nano-x project at some point. What is your opinion on the continued viability of X-Windows? Should the open source community be focusing on developing something better, or is X the best we can hope for?
-- Slashdot sucks.
I'm confused by the ac kernel patches. It seems that when a new kernel comes out it is almost immediately followed by a flurry of ac patches. Whats the deal?
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
Some time ago you mentioned on your diary that work was 10% complete on the secret project. What is the secret project? Or when can we know about it?
Alan, with the upcoming 2.4 kernel is there any work being done to address Linux tcpip performance issues? Is there any plans on making the IP stack multi-threaded and what about the stack spin lock issues on SMP machines?
Suppose both Linus and yourself get run over by a bus on the same day. Who would take over the major kernel decisions?
S
I'm a network security person and have always been intrigued by the concept of the 'hardened' BSD kernel (which isn't really THAT hard), and some of the role-based and compartmentalized systems out there.
What is the status of the security of Linux's internals compared with other OS'es, (mostly as regards potential buffer overflows and root hacks) and what do you see as the overall direction, if any, of Linux's security beyond the standard UNIX security model.
jf
While I realize that you might not be completely objective about this question, what do you think of the design of the HURD, as it compares to Linux?
I once asked Linus himself this question and he replied in rather annoyed tones that "the HURD is a great academic design that would never work in practice" (or something along those lines).
Richard Stallman has been steadfast in refusing to endorse Linux as the GNU kernel. Does he raise these objections merely for emotional reasons, or does he see the HURD as having real technical advantages to the current monolithic design?
Forgive me if I am uninformed on these issues; I am not a kernel developer.
What are your thoughts on the matter? What possible problems do you see with a pure OO kernel?
--
These questions are prompted by something Alan mentioned in that brief Ottawa Citizen article I'd submitted a short while ago. Re. enabling Third-world intellectual infrastructure development.
:-)
How has the multicultural and multilingual participation affected the development of Linux as a whole?
Have you begun to see evidence of third-world participation effecting the progress of Linux yet, or is it still in the "hope to see soon" category? What needs to be done/changed to assist in the cross-cultural adoption of Linux? (Unicode?)
When can we expect to see a Linux Universal Translator Engine?
--The more you know, the less you know.