1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2 3 ======================================== 4 Linux Kernel Contribution Maturity Model 5 ======================================== 6 7 8 Background 9 ========== 10 11 As a part of the 2021 Linux Kernel Maintainers’ Summit, there was a 12 `discussion <https://lwn.net/Articles/870581/>`_ about the challenges in 13 recruiting kernel maintainers as well as maintainer succession. Some of 14 the conclusions from that discussion included that companies which are a 15 part of the Linux Kernel community need to allow engineers to be 16 maintainers as part of their job, so they can grow into becoming 17 respected leaders and eventually, kernel maintainers. To support a 18 strong talent pipeline, developers should be allowed and encouraged to 19 take on upstream contributions such as reviewing other people’s patches, 20 refactoring kernel infrastructure, and writing documentation. 21 22 To that end, the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) 23 proposes this Linux Kernel Contribution Maturity Model. These common 24 expectations for upstream community engagement aim to increase the 25 influence of individual developers, increase the collaboration of 26 organizations, and improve the overall health of the Linux Kernel 27 ecosystem. 28 29 The TAB urges organizations to continuously evaluate their Open Source 30 maturity model and commit to improvements to align with this model. To 31 be effective, this evaluation should incorporate feedback from across 32 the organization, including management and developers at all seniority 33 levels. In the spirit of Open Source, we encourage organizations to 34 publish their evaluations and plans to improve their engagement with the 35 upstream community. 36 37 Level 0 38 ======= 39 40 * Software Engineers are not allowed to contribute patches to the Linux 41 kernel. 42 43 44 Level 1 45 ======= 46 47 * Software Engineers are allowed to contribute patches to the Linux 48 kernel, either as part of their job responsibilities or on their own 49 time. 50 51 Level 2 52 ======= 53 54 * Software Engineers are expected to contribute to the Linux Kernel as 55 part of their job responsibilities. 56 * Software Engineers will be supported to attend Linux-related 57 conferences as a part of their job. 58 * A Software Engineer’s upstream code contributions will be considered 59 in promotion and performance reviews. 60 61 Level 3 62 ======= 63 64 * Software Engineers are expected to review patches (including patches 65 authored by engineers from other companies) as part of their job 66 responsibilities 67 * Contributing presentations or papers to Linux-related or academic 68 conferences (such those organized by the Linux Foundation, Usenix, 69 ACM, etc.), are considered part of an engineer’s work. 70 * A Software Engineer’s community contributions will be considered in 71 promotion and performance reviews. 72 * Organizations will regularly report metrics of their open source 73 contributions and track these metrics over time. These metrics may be 74 published only internally within the organization, or at the 75 organization’s discretion, some or all may be published externally. 76 Metrics that are strongly suggested include: 77 78 * The number of upstream kernel contributions by team or organization 79 (e.g., all people reporting up to a manager, director, or VP). 80 * The percentage of kernel developers who have made upstream 81 contributions relative to the total kernel developers in the 82 organization. 83 * The time interval between kernels used in the organization’s servers 84 and/or products, and the publication date of the upstream kernel 85 upon which the internal kernel is based. 86 * The number of out-of-tree commits present in internal kernels. 87 88 Level 4 89 ======= 90 91 * Software Engineers are encouraged to spend a portion of their work 92 time focused on Upstream Work, which is defined as reviewing patches, 93 serving on program committees, improving core project infrastructure 94 such as writing or maintaining tests, upstream tech debt reduction, 95 writing documentation, etc. 96 * Software Engineers are supported in helping to organize Linux-related 97 conferences. 98 * Organizations will consider community member feedback in official 99 performance reviews. 100 101 Level 5 102 ======= 103 104 * Upstream kernel development is considered a formal job position, with 105 at least a third of the engineer’s time spent doing Upstream Work. 106 * Organizations will actively seek out community member feedback as a 107 factor in official performance reviews. 108 * Organizations will regularly report internally on the ratio of 109 Upstream Work to work focused on directly pursuing business goals.
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