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Luis Alvarado
Asked: 2012-04-01 14:12:04 +0800 CST

What has Ubuntu contributed to the Linux Kernel?

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This question is similar to this one: What unique features has Ubuntu brought to the Linux community? but in this case it is directed towards what has Ubuntu contributed to the official Linux Kernel.

Many times I have heared about Intel contributing patches to the Linux Kernel like the RC6 latest patches and many more related to recent support for Sandy/Ivy Bridge. In another group, Android did an upstream patch and a lot of ARM patches have also come to the Linux Kernel.

I have seeing a small percent of companies and groups that have contributed to the Linux Kernel (http://kernel.org) but what I want to know is, since the beginning of Ubuntu till now, what has Ubuntu contributed to the Linux Kernel in regards to any aspect of the kernel.

For Kernel information I typically go to http://kernelnewbies.org and http://kernel.org

kernel contributing

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I'm not sure this is really the best way to measure Ubuntu's contributions to the free software world, but it's easy enough to look:

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  2. There's some data provided by Greg Kroah-Hartman in his talk "The Linux Ecosystem, what it is and where do you fit in it?" for the Linux Plumbers Conference 2008. While you can find a synthesis of the talk here, the slides are not available, so you can watch the video.

    These are figures from 2008, but I'm sure these had not changed much:

        Amateurs: 17%
    Red Hat: 11.9%
    Unknown: 8.3%
    IBM: 7.8%
    Novell: 7.3%
    Intel: 4.4%
    Consultants: 2.1%
    Oracle: 1.9%
    Linux Foundation: 1.8%
    SGI: 1.8%

    And, after a correction about the number of patches canonical has contributed, they appear with a 00.10068% of all of the kernel development, or 100 patches(remember, 2008).

    AFAIK, every patch comes with an the author's associated email, which allows to know the origin of it (@canonical.com, @debian.org), so there is a difference between Debian and Ubuntu in this matter. Also, take this with a grain of salt, there's more than a way to measure contributions to the Linux ecosystem than just measuring the kernel.

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  3. The following adds the perspective of Canonical's motives. Not a direct answer to the original question but IMO a vital piece of information. Let us hear what the main man, Mark Shuttleworth, has to say about this http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2168086/canonical-linux-kernel "Recently Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth told The INQUIRER that his company has no interest in contributing to the Linux kernel"

    Rather silly statement considering the fact that the power regressionS (plural!) rendered most linux distros, including Ubuntu, practically unusable on many machines.

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