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Architecture

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Linux is a monolithic kernel with a modular design (e.g, it can insert and remove loadable kernel modules at runtime), supporting most features once only available in closed source kernels of non-free operating systems: concurrent computing and (with the availability of enough CPU cores for tasks that are ready to run) even true parallel execution of many processes at once (each of them having one or more threads of execution) on SMP and NUMA architectures; selection and configuration of hundreds of kernel features and drivers (using one of the " make *config " family of commands, before running compilation), modification of kernel parameters before booting (usually by inserting instructions into the lines of the GRUB2 menu), and fine tuning of kernel behavior at run-time (using the sysctl(8) interface to /proc/sys/ ); configuration (again using the make *config commands) and run-time modifications of the policies (via nice(2), setpriority(2) and the family of sched_*(2) s...
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Legal aspects

GPLv2 licensing terms edit Initially, Torvalds released Linux under a license which forbade any commercial use. This was changed in version 0.12 by a switch to the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2). This license allows distribution and sale of possibly modified and unmodified versions of Linux but requires that all those copies be released under the same license and be accompanied by the complete corresponding source code. Torvalds has described licensing Linux under the GPLv2 as the "best thing I ever did". The Linux kernel is licensed explicitly only under version 2 of the GPL, without offering the licensee the option to choose "any later version", which is a common GPL extension. The official git branch of Torvalds contains documentation that explains the kernel development process to people who want to work with the community and contribute code; it clearly states that "Any contributions which are not covered by a GPLv compatible license will not...
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Development

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Developer community edit The community of Linux kernel developers comprises about 5000-6000 members. According to the "2017 State of Linux Kernel Development", a study issued by the Linux Foundation, covering the commits for the releases 4.8 to 4.13, about 1500 developers were contributing from about 200-250 companies on average. The top 30 developers contributed a little more than 16% of the code. As of companies, the top contributors are Intel (13.1%) and Red Hat (7.2%), Linaro (5.6%), IBM (4.1%), the second and fifth places are held by the 'none' (8.2%) and 'unknown' (4.1%) categories. Instead of a roadmap, there are technical guidelines. Instead of a central resource allocation, there are persons and companies who all have a stake in the further development of the Linux kernel, quite independently from one another: People like Linus Torvalds and I don’t plan the kernel evolution. We don’t sit there and think up the roadmap for the next two years, then ass...
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