[ Thanks to Joe
Black for this link. ]
“rwh: Any tips for the aspiring kernel hacker?
“wli: Well, I believe I am still aspiring myself. =)
“Everyone says persistence is key, but it’s not enough. One
thing I’ve noticed is that because the kernel is responsible for
maintaining the integrity of both data and the running system
image, the cost of a failure (i.e. bugs, and as with any
programming, they are numerous) is that data is lost and systems go
down. A big fear to overcome is that of disrupting the proper
operation of a system or losing data. When a kernel crashes it
destroys data and the machine goes down, and you can’t be afraid to
see this happen if you’re going to get anywhere. Programming is
error-prone, and one must be prepared to commit errors. A stumbling
block for me early on was that I was too careful and obsessed on
repeatedly reviewing code to be sure the system wouldn’t crash when
I tried to run with it.”