Linux: No money for documentation
Things are looking bad for Linux documentation. But this could change with the post-Torvalds era, at least if the problem is finally recognized.
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- Dr. Udo Seidel
Linux has been the open-source flagship project for over 30 years. Furthermore, It is remarkable that its leader is still involved – and in his original role, so to speak: Linus Torvalds releases the Linux kernel and has more than a say in what is in it. In many ways, this project is different from most others in IT. There is the development model itself, the number of employees, the financing of the work and, of course, the duration.
Unfortunately, there is also a problem that often arises in the project world: the importance and value of documentation.
Call for help and resignation
Shortly before the Open Source Summit EU in Vienna in September 2024, there was a small earthquake in this area. Alejandro Colomar resigned as the main administrator of the help pages (man pages) for Linux. The reason for this is simple: he can no longer afford this voluntary role. In other words, either a sponsor can be found for the maintenance of the help pages or Alejandro dedicates his time and energy to tasks that involve payment.
This difficulty is not new, as Jonathan Corbet, publisher of Linux Weekly News (LWN), already pointed this out in April 2018. He said: "Nobody wants to pay for writing documentation". Corbet went even further. In his opinion, the quality of kernel documentation is not as good as it could and should be and called for better financial support. Now, Corbet is not an insignificant name in the Linux world. Nevertheless, his call for help probably went unheard.
At the Open Source Summit EU 2024, the topic came up again during a panel discussion –, but only as a side issue: it was actually about the community of kernel developers, the administrators of the various subsystems and, ultimately, what the Linux world will look like in the post-Linus Torvalds era. After all, the Finn has been there from the beginning and still has the last word when it comes to the kernel code.
Interestingly, Torvalds had several deputies over the course of more than 30 years. Well-known names include Alan Cox, Andrew Morton and, more recently, Greg Kroah-Hartman. The deputies came and went – but the project manager stayed. One possible construct of the post-Linus Torvalds era could be the replacement of the "Benevolent Dictator for Life" ( – BDFL) by a kind of supervisory board. In other words, a group of people who have the final say over the kernel code.
A kind of editor-in-chief with an associated editorial team could then also be implemented there. It's not as if the kernel developers don't write any documentation. With such a mammoth project, a uniform and consistent consumer experience on the user side is not a sure-fire success. An editorial framework more than increases the chances. However, this also requires healthy financing.
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Known weakness
The editorial approach also solves another problem that has reared its ugly head more than once in the open-source world: the dependence of an important project on a single person. Well-known cases include OpenSSL with Stephen Henson, GnuPG with Werner Koch and NTP with Harlan Stenn. But that's not all because here the work too was done on a quasi-voluntary basis. The income from donations can be safely ignored. In the mid-2010s, there were clear calls for help and the Linux Foundation responded. First there was the Core Infrastructure Initiative, which has since been replaced by the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF). It supports –, including financially – the aforementioned software projects and others meanwhile.
A similar solution could also work in the area of Linux documentation. A first step would be to appoint Alejandro Colomar as a paid administrator of the help pages, followed by the establishment of a deputy. In this way, we could gradually move towards an editorial framework. The whole thing could also be integrated into the Linux Foundation under LF documentation. The subjective impression during the Open Source Summit EU 2024, however, was that not enough people with decision-making power realize that Linux documentation is a serious problem. This makes the chance of this being tackled in the near future rather unlikely – but hopefully the subjective impression is wrong.
(vbr)
