The Linux kernel registers 8.5 changes per hour

This document illustrates the core development process of the largest collaborative project in the history of computing. On this occasion it analyzes the progress made from version 4.8 to 4.13.

Among the most significant data, it highlights that the project has had 1,670 new developers, which are about a third of the total contributors. As a curiosity, most of the new developers publish their first patch in the so-called “staging tree”.

The top 10 organizations sponsoring Linux kernel development since the last report are Intel, Red Hat, Linaro, IBM, Samsung, SUSE, Google, AMD, Renesas and Mellanox.

If we look further back in time, in particular until 2005, when detailed tracking of the project was initiated, a total of 15,600 developers from more than 1,400 companies have contributed to this initiative.