Who's Writing Linux Kernel Code? More and More People, Says Linux Foundation

Half of the programmers who contributed code to the kernel since the last report were first-time contributors, showing that the Linux kernel developer community continues to grow.

More than 80 percent of code contributors during the period of time that the current report covers were paid for their work. That reflects a decline in the number of volunteer contributors, but a rise in those who work on Linux as part of their jobs—which ultimately reflects growing interest in Linux expertise among major companies, the Linux Foundation suggested.

The FOSS Outreach Program for Women ranked as No. 13 on the list of organizations with the most code contributions. It also provided 1.5 percent of total code patches to Linux kernel 3.11 alone. That’s a newsworthy finding in light of recent debate on “diversity” in the Linux and open source ecosystem. It doesn’t necessarily mean women do not remain underrepresented within the kernel development community, but it suggests they may be playing a bigger role than leading developers recognize—especially since the FOSS Outreach Program for Women is hardly the only major contributing organization with female members.