Matt Mackall announced the creation of the Kernel Mentors Project, "an informal project to get experienced developers to mentor new developers and coach them on the best ways to get their code ready for submission." He goes on to explain that the project's mailing list [archive] allows a place for developers to "submit a description of their project and its current state as well as pointers to the code", adding that in response "mentors will pick for themselves which projects and developers they'd like to work with and offer their assistance."

In a posting to the new mailing list, Matt further explained, "the basic idea is matching new kernel developers up with experienced developers so they can get acquainted with existing best practices." He goes on to list some goals for the project, noting that it's not a replacement for the kernel newbies or kernel janitors projects. Instead, he explains that the idea is to smooth out and better document the development process, help merge code that's basically ready for mainline, and to increase overall participation.

From: Matt Mackall [email blocked]
To: linux-kernel [email blocked]
Subject: [ANNOUNCE] Kernel Mentors Project
Date: 	Fri, 15 Apr 2005 13:10:57 -0700

Perhaps the hardest part of becoming a kernel developer is submitting
your first major feature. There are technical and social hurdles to
overcome and the process can be daunting to someone who is new to the
community.

Thus, I'm proposing an informal project to get experienced developers
to mentor new developers and coach them on the best ways to get their
code ready for submission.

Developers will submit a description of their project and its current
state as well as pointer to the code to the kernel-mentors mailing
list. Mentors will pick for themselves which projects and developers
they'd like to work with and offer their assistance. 

The mentor will help the developer get their code accepted by:
- reviewing the code and suggesting how to improve it further
- acquainting the developer with best practices for code submission
- letting the developer know what to expect in the submission process

For their part, new developers will be expected to use the feedback
they're given productively and eventually get their code merged!

The project list is at [email blocked] with a web interface at:

http://selenic.com/mailman/listinfo/kernel-mentors

If you're interested in helping out, come join us.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.



From: Matt Mackall [email blocked]
To: kernel-mentors AT selenic.com
Subject: Kicking things off - some thoughts
Date: Fri, 04/15/2005 - 22:39

Thought I'd go ahead and get things started here now that there are a
couple dozen people on the list.

The basic idea is matching new kernel developers up with experienced
developers so they can get acquainted with existing best practices.

What I hope to accomplish with this project:
 - smooth out the development process a bit
 - get various open code that ought to be in mainline merged
 - generally increase participation from various camps (vendors,
    embedded, etc)
 - perhaps we can even deal with some language barrier issues
 - document the process along the way

What it's not intended to do:
 - replace kernelnewbies, kerneljanitors, etc.
 - teach people to code
 - dictate process to anyone 

Various things that I think need some thinking about:
 - how to advertise this to the wider community, especially in the
   niches we usually don't reach
 - how to track which projects are looking for mentors
 - how to encourage people to volunteer as mentors

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.

• Archive of above threads [thread 1 [thread 2]