Plumbing

Once upon a time, the kernel stood alone and presented services to the system by way of the system call interface. In current systems, instead, users see a view of the system that is created by a whole set of utilities, including the C library, udev, HAL and more. Interactions between these low-level components and the kernel are not always as smooth as they could be, and despite the best efforts of the kernel development community, kernel releases have been known to occasionally break utilities like udev.
Jonathan Corbet

Jonathan Corbet calls this the "kernel ecosystem". We call it the "plumbing," a collection of essential interfaces and services that are provided by the libraries, kernel, and utilities that make up a Linux system. Currently if a problem exists that involves both kernel and user space, a developer must attend three different conferences in order to have the face-to-face contact with various stakeholders that is necessary to find a solution.

The Linux Plumbers Conference was created to provide a forum for communication and problem- solving for issues which are system-wide and cross project boundaries. This community event includes both invited guests as well as open registration, gathering 300 stakeholders, decision makers and developers.

Solving Problems

A number of us on the Kernel Summit mail list have been complaining that we need something like this badly. We need a place for the HAL, dbus, audio framework, kernel, X and other assorted developers to get together and hash out some of this crap in person. This would be a perfect place for it.
Greg Kroah-Hartman

The objective of the Plumbers Conference is to solve problems, a goal reflected in the program development. The conference is arranged as a series of MicroConfs, each on a topic that is narrow enough to identify specific problem areas and brainstorm workable solutions. Each MicroConf is run by a topic champion and attendees include invited stakeholders, decision-makers and leading and new developers.

The Linux Plumbers Conference is underwritten by The Linux Foundation and organized in partnership with The Linux Foundation and community volunteers.

The Linux Plumbers Conference is a revenue neutral event.

News

LPC Student Mini-conference 2 May 2008

We are pleased to announce the addition of a Student Mini-conference for student attendees of the Linux Plumbers Conference 2008. During this day long event we will: introduce a few of the technical topics being discussed the following day, discuss relevant career paths coming out of school and learn how to make the most of the conference.

If you would like to present at this event please contact us; we are open to new topic ideas too.

Who: Student attendees and presenters

When: 09:00-18:00, September 16, 2008

Where: PSU Business Accelerator