Red Hat leads open source contributions to Linux Kernel

According to a recent report conducted by the Linux Foundation, Red Hat has been recognised ahead of open source advocates IBM and Novell as the most active contributor to the ongoing development of the Linux Kernel.

Clocking in with more than 9,000 changes contributed, which constitutes 11.2 percent of the total, Red Hat easily surpassed its nearest corporate contributor, Novell, which came in with just over 7,000 changes (8.9 percent). IBM was next closest with just under 7,000 changes (8.3 percent), while Intel came in with a little over 3,000 changes (4.1 percent).

The report distinguished corporate kernel contributions by affiliating individual developers with corporate identities. These were determined through the use of company email addresses, sponsorship information included in the code they submitted, or simply asking the developers directly.

Not surprisingly, the top individual kernel developers were dominated by Red Hat employees. Al Viro, who topped the list with 1,571 changes (1.9 percent) to the kernel, and David Miller (1520 changes or 1.8 percent) both belong to the Red Hat family.

According to the Linux Foundation's findings during the past three years, the top 10 individual developers have contributed almost 15 percent of the number of changes, while the top 30 developers have contributed 30 percent.

The report’s findings back up a report from September last year by Linux Weekly News which found Red Hat was the most active company contributor both by changesets (12 percent) and by lines changed (12.7 percent) in the development of the 2.6.23 kernel.