Is Linus Torvalds right about the kernel being bloated?

[chrander]

Every couple of days or weeks or so a new set of code gets added to kernel prepatch after kernel prepatch until
Linus decides to bless a release and increment the kernel number. This cycle has repeated itself non stop for the past 15 years.

Have we reached a point in time where it might not be a bad idea to take a brief hiatus on further development of the kernel,
sit down as a community and decide what the kernel should look like in the next couple of years time.

Once a roadmap is in place, review the existing kernel code to determine how best to evolve the code (or take code out) to meet the Linux community's
future needs and with those goals in mind instititute a review of the entire linux kernel to determine where the code could be
made leaner, more efficient, and with the help of the user community well tested and code fixed as needed.

Once this code review concludes, the active development of the kernel could restart in earnest.

I'm not a Linux Programmer, just someone that is learning to use CentOS 5.3 to host several websites and would be happy to lend a hand in the future
development of Linux however that might be.

What do you folks think about this idea?

[gerald_clark]

I don't think Linus subscribes here.

[NedSlider]

Moved to Social :-)

[CiaW]

I'm not sure about that, whether the kernel is bloated. I guess the guy who started this whole linux thing would be in a better position to judge. However, I did recently read his book 'Just for Fun' and it was pretty good. I found it while searching my local library's collection using the term 'linux'. I also recently discovered his blog and have it on my Liferea feed reader. Here's the link:
[url=http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com]Torvalds family blog[/url]

He actually doesn't seem to talk much about the kernel or linux, though it gets thrown in sometimes.

[cry4dawn]

I miss make oldconfig && make days with only what you need and no modules. Just don't have time to do it for my work servers anymore.

[pschaff]

[quote]
cry4dawn wrote:
I miss make oldconfig && make days with only what you need and no modules.[/quote]

...and having to rebuild a kernel iteratively until you got all the right modules and no compile failures, and doing it again every time new hardware was added, rather than just loading a module. Oh yeah, the good old days! ( Not! ;-) )

I'll take loadable modules, thanks! :-D

[cry4dawn]

Yeah thats true but at the end of the day you had a very "Intimate" relationship with your box. One where you actually talked to the screen "your running fsck oh my are you ok?" LOL

[pschaff]

Getting OT, but this is "Social" - reminds me of this epic thread...
http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhl-list/2004-May/msg00414.html

[cry4dawn]

LMAO
I love the one guys signature

() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\ - against microsoft attachments

[scottro]

I dunno about the kernel, but in general, Linux, perhaps seeing the success of Mac and MS, seems to be, more and more, trying to imitate them.

It seems--not fully, completely, absolutely tested, but I'm pretty sure--that one can't even install CentOS from the first install CD anymore. They have something essential, or something that RedHat considers essential, on two other CDs. (This is after unchecking everything, including base system options. The reason I'm not 100 percent positive is that I was rushing, and cannot guarantee that I definitely didn't overlook something. Have to try again this evening.

Even Fedora enables you to do that--install from the first CD. Yes, I can install with a net ISO, but unless they've definitely fixed all their problems with various common network cards, they should have arranged their CD's better. Shucks, even Windows 2000 server (which I admit is old, but still.....) could install from one CD. Even if they have fixed all those issues with some of those realtek cards, it's poor planning.