The 2018 Kernel Maintainers Summit [LWN.net]

By Jonathan Corbet
October 24, 2018

The Kernel Maintainers Summit is a relatively new event designed to allow a relatively small number of kernel maintainers to discuss important topics that are not generally amenable to solution via email discussions. The 2018 Maintainers Summit was held on October 22 in Edinburgh, Scotland, with about 30 developers present.

This half-day meeting discussed these topics:

The code of conduct: shortly after the abrupt adoption of a new code of conduct, the maintainers discussed how the current state of affairs came about and what should happen next.
Making stable kernels more stable: the recurring topic of how to prevent stable kernel updates from giving users more than they bargained for.
Replacement of deprecated APIs: how can we better handle large-scale API changes in the kernel?
Improving the handling of embargoed hardware-security bugs. The next Meltdown/Spectre vulnerability will come sooner or later; how can we handle it better?
Removing support for old hardware from the kernel: carrying support for hardware that nobody is using has a cost, but identifying and removing that support is not always easy.
The proper use of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(): the continuation of an ongoing debate over GPL-only exports.

LWN's coverage of the 2018 Maintainers Summit is now complete.

[Thanks to the Linux Foundation, LWN's travel sponsor, for supporting our travel to the Maintainers Summit].

Index entries for this article
Conference	Kernel Maintainers Summit/2018