Welcome 2026 applicants

Welcome 2026 applicants

[Julia Lawall]

Welcome Applicants,

Thank you for your interest in the Linux Kernel Community!

The 'Contribution Period' for the December 2026 Cohort runs until November
2.

Our contribution period process works entirely via this mailing list. Make
sure that you read over the emails on this list daily.  I will be posting
updates here. Most importantly, it is where you will learn from each other,
by following the questions asked/answered, the patches submitted, and the
reviewer feedback offered.

You found this email, now make sure you are personally subscribed
to this list:
Subscribe: outreachy+subscribe@lists.linux.dev
View the archive: https://lore.kernel.org/outreachy/

Please feel free to introduce yourself on the mailing list.

Ask your questions on the mailing list. If your question is directed at
an individual, then CC the mailing list. This way you'll be able get
quick responses to the issues you're facing. Please help other applicants
who face issues that you've addressed.

Your first task is to walk through our First Patch Tutorial:
http://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch

The tutorial leads you through submitting your first patch. Please
do not submit your second patch until your first patch is accepted.
A key point is that it is really helpful and efficient (for both you
and patch reviewers) to refine your patch-sending skills one patch
at a time, rather than having multiple patches in flight that require
similar rework.

You must CC all patches to this Outreachy Mailing List and to the
appropriate mailing lists and maintainers in get_maintainer.pl. The
tutorial walks you through how to use get_maintainer.pl.

Once that first patch is accepted, please record that contribution
on the Outreachy website. It will serve to check your eligibility.
Only eligible applicants will be able to log contributions on the
Outreachy website.

Congratulations on getting your first patch accepted into the Linux
Kernel! Celebrate, then do more!

Please note the following:

* All patches should be on drivers/staging, but not on drivers/staging/media

* You can use the check the scripts/checkpatch.pl -f to find simple style
  problems in some files.  Use your judgment about whether a suggestion of
  checkpatch is a good idea for a change.  Check the mailing list archives
  for some changes that are regularly suggested by checkpatch but that are
  rejected in practice.

* There are not very many checkpatch reports on the current
  drivers/staging.  Some other potential fixes to consider include memory
  leaks, introducing new kernel features such as guard, scoped_guard, _obj
  allocation functions, etc., finding unused functions or variables, etc.

Once you have several cleanup patches accepted into drivers/staging by
GregKH, we encourage applicants to move on to complete project Starter Tasks
that will be outlined:
https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#linux-kernel

Ping me individually if you think you are done, or close to done, with
cleanups. Also, folks who already have cleanup patches from prior work,
please get a few cleanup patches accepted, to refresh your memory about
submitting kernel patches, and then email me about that too and let's see
if we can move you on to project tasks.

All the best and thank you for contributing to the Linux Kernel,

Julia Lawall
Kernel Community Coordinator

Re: Welcome 2026 applicants

[Yalagada Pavan Kumar]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2026 at 07:44:06AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> Welcome Applicants,
> 
> Thank you for your interest in the Linux Kernel Community!
> 
> The 'Contribution Period' for the December 2026 Cohort runs until November
> 2.

Hi Julia,

I noticed that the Outreachy contribution period start date
has changed from October 5 to October 12.

I wanted to confirm whether I should begin my Linux Kernel contribution work
now or whether I should wait until October 12 to start the actual contribution.

Thanks,
Pavan

> 
> Our contribution period process works entirely via this mailing list. Make
> sure that you read over the emails on this list daily.  I will be posting
> updates here. Most importantly, it is where you will learn from each other,
> by following the questions asked/answered, the patches submitted, and the
> reviewer feedback offered.
> 
> You found this email, now make sure you are personally subscribed
> to this list:
> Subscribe: outreachy+subscribe@lists.linux.dev
> View the archive: https://lore.kernel.org/outreachy/
> 
> Please feel free to introduce yourself on the mailing list.
> 
> Ask your questions on the mailing list. If your question is directed at
> an individual, then CC the mailing list. This way you'll be able get
> quick responses to the issues you're facing. Please help other applicants
> who face issues that you've addressed.
> 
> Your first task is to walk through our First Patch Tutorial:
> http://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch
> 
> The tutorial leads you through submitting your first patch. Please
> do not submit your second patch until your first patch is accepted.
> A key point is that it is really helpful and efficient (for both you
> and patch reviewers) to refine your patch-sending skills one patch
> at a time, rather than having multiple patches in flight that require
> similar rework.
> 
> You must CC all patches to this Outreachy Mailing List and to the
> appropriate mailing lists and maintainers in get_maintainer.pl. The
> tutorial walks you through how to use get_maintainer.pl.
> 
> Once that first patch is accepted, please record that contribution
> on the Outreachy website. It will serve to check your eligibility.
> Only eligible applicants will be able to log contributions on the
> Outreachy website.
> 
> Congratulations on getting your first patch accepted into the Linux
> Kernel! Celebrate, then do more!
> 
> Please note the following:
> 
> * All patches should be on drivers/staging, but not on drivers/staging/media
> 
> * You can use the check the scripts/checkpatch.pl -f to find simple style
>   problems in some files.  Use your judgment about whether a suggestion of
>   checkpatch is a good idea for a change.  Check the mailing list archives
>   for some changes that are regularly suggested by checkpatch but that are
>   rejected in practice.
> 
> * There are not very many checkpatch reports on the current
>   drivers/staging.  Some other potential fixes to consider include memory
>   leaks, introducing new kernel features such as guard, scoped_guard, _obj
>   allocation functions, etc., finding unused functions or variables, etc.
> 
> Once you have several cleanup patches accepted into drivers/staging by
> GregKH, we encourage applicants to move on to complete project Starter Tasks
> that will be outlined:
> https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#linux-kernel
> 
> Ping me individually if you think you are done, or close to done, with
> cleanups. Also, folks who already have cleanup patches from prior work,
> please get a few cleanup patches accepted, to refresh your memory about
> submitting kernel patches, and then email me about that too and let's see
> if we can move you on to project tasks.
> 
> All the best and thank you for contributing to the Linux Kernel,
> 
> Julia Lawall
> Kernel Community Coordinator

Re: Welcome 2026 applicants

[Julia Lawall]

On Wed, 7 Oct 2026, Yalagada Pavan Kumar wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 05, 2026 at 07:44:06AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> > Welcome Applicants,
> >
> > Thank you for your interest in the Linux Kernel Community!
> >
> > The 'Contribution Period' for the December 2026 Cohort runs until November
> > 2.
>
> Hi Julia,
>
> I noticed that the Outreachy contribution period start date
> has changed from October 5 to October 12.

Yes, I just noticed that this morning too.

>
> I wanted to confirm whether I should begin my Linux Kernel contribution work
> now or whether I should wait until October 12 to start the actual contribution.

You can wait until October 12.

Thanks for your interest!

julia

> Thanks,
> Pavan
>
> >
> > Our contribution period process works entirely via this mailing list. Make
> > sure that you read over the emails on this list daily.  I will be posting
> > updates here. Most importantly, it is where you will learn from each other,
> > by following the questions asked/answered, the patches submitted, and the
> > reviewer feedback offered.
> >
> > You found this email, now make sure you are personally subscribed
> > to this list:
> > Subscribe: outreachy+subscribe@lists.linux.dev
> > View the archive: https://lore.kernel.org/outreachy/
> >
> > Please feel free to introduce yourself on the mailing list.
> >
> > Ask your questions on the mailing list. If your question is directed at
> > an individual, then CC the mailing list. This way you'll be able get
> > quick responses to the issues you're facing. Please help other applicants
> > who face issues that you've addressed.
> >
> > Your first task is to walk through our First Patch Tutorial:
> > http://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch
> >
> > The tutorial leads you through submitting your first patch. Please
> > do not submit your second patch until your first patch is accepted.
> > A key point is that it is really helpful and efficient (for both you
> > and patch reviewers) to refine your patch-sending skills one patch
> > at a time, rather than having multiple patches in flight that require
> > similar rework.
> >
> > You must CC all patches to this Outreachy Mailing List and to the
> > appropriate mailing lists and maintainers in get_maintainer.pl. The
> > tutorial walks you through how to use get_maintainer.pl.
> >
> > Once that first patch is accepted, please record that contribution
> > on the Outreachy website. It will serve to check your eligibility.
> > Only eligible applicants will be able to log contributions on the
> > Outreachy website.
> >
> > Congratulations on getting your first patch accepted into the Linux
> > Kernel! Celebrate, then do more!
> >
> > Please note the following:
> >
> > * All patches should be on drivers/staging, but not on drivers/staging/media
> >
> > * You can use the check the scripts/checkpatch.pl -f to find simple style
> >   problems in some files.  Use your judgment about whether a suggestion of
> >   checkpatch is a good idea for a change.  Check the mailing list archives
> >   for some changes that are regularly suggested by checkpatch but that are
> >   rejected in practice.
> >
> > * There are not very many checkpatch reports on the current
> >   drivers/staging.  Some other potential fixes to consider include memory
> >   leaks, introducing new kernel features such as guard, scoped_guard, _obj
> >   allocation functions, etc., finding unused functions or variables, etc.
> >
> > Once you have several cleanup patches accepted into drivers/staging by
> > GregKH, we encourage applicants to move on to complete project Starter Tasks
> > that will be outlined:
> > https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#linux-kernel
> >
> > Ping me individually if you think you are done, or close to done, with
> > cleanups. Also, folks who already have cleanup patches from prior work,
> > please get a few cleanup patches accepted, to refresh your memory about
> > submitting kernel patches, and then email me about that too and let's see
> > if we can move you on to project tasks.
> >
> > All the best and thank you for contributing to the Linux Kernel,
> >
> > Julia Lawall
> > Kernel Community Coordinator
>

Re: Welcome 2026 applicants

[Yalagada Pavan Kumar]

On Mon, Oct 05, 2026 at 07:44:06AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> Welcome Applicants,
> 
> Thank you for your interest in the Linux Kernel Community!
> 
> The 'Contribution Period' for the December 2026 Cohort runs until November
> 2.
> 
> Our contribution period process works entirely via this mailing list. Make
> sure that you read over the emails on this list daily.  I will be posting
> updates here. Most importantly, it is where you will learn from each other,
> by following the questions asked/answered, the patches submitted, and the
> reviewer feedback offered.
> 
> You found this email, now make sure you are personally subscribed
> to this list:
> Subscribe: outreachy+subscribe@lists.linux.dev
> View the archive: https://lore.kernel.org/outreachy/
> 
> Please feel free to introduce yourself on the mailing list.
> 
> Ask your questions on the mailing list. If your question is directed at
> an individual, then CC the mailing list. This way you'll be able get
> quick responses to the issues you're facing. Please help other applicants
> who face issues that you've addressed.
> 
> Your first task is to walk through our First Patch Tutorial:
> http://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch
> 
> The tutorial leads you through submitting your first patch. Please
> do not submit your second patch until your first patch is accepted.

Hi Julia,

My first patch has been added to staging-testing branch by Greg.

I have few doubts:

   1. Does my patch need to reach staging-next or Linus's mainline tree to be
      considered accepted, or is staging-testing enough?

   2. Can i submit my second patch now or should i wait?
 
> A key point is that it is really helpful and efficient (for both you
> and patch reviewers) to refine your patch-sending skills one patch
> at a time, rather than having multiple patches in flight that require
> similar rework.
> 
> You must CC all patches to this Outreachy Mailing List and to the
> appropriate mailing lists and maintainers in get_maintainer.pl. The
> tutorial walks you through how to use get_maintainer.pl.
> 
> Once that first patch is accepted, please record that contribution
> on the Outreachy website. It will serve to check your eligibility.

   3. Should i mention the date my patch was accepted or the date it was
      merged.

Thanks,
Pavan
 
> Only eligible applicants will be able to log contributions on the
> Outreachy website.
> 
> Congratulations on getting your first patch accepted into the Linux
> Kernel! Celebrate, then do more!
> 
> Please note the following:
> 
> * All patches should be on drivers/staging, but not on drivers/staging/media
> 
> * You can use the check the scripts/checkpatch.pl -f to find simple style
>   problems in some files.  Use your judgment about whether a suggestion of
>   checkpatch is a good idea for a change.  Check the mailing list archives
>   for some changes that are regularly suggested by checkpatch but that are
>   rejected in practice.
> 
> * There are not very many checkpatch reports on the current
>   drivers/staging.  Some other potential fixes to consider include memory
>   leaks, introducing new kernel features such as guard, scoped_guard, _obj
>   allocation functions, etc., finding unused functions or variables, etc.
> 
> Once you have several cleanup patches accepted into drivers/staging by
> GregKH, we encourage applicants to move on to complete project Starter Tasks
> that will be outlined:
> https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#linux-kernel
> 
> Ping me individually if you think you are done, or close to done, with
> cleanups. Also, folks who already have cleanup patches from prior work,
> please get a few cleanup patches accepted, to refresh your memory about
> submitting kernel patches, and then email me about that too and let's see
> if we can move you on to project tasks.
> 
> All the best and thank you for contributing to the Linux Kernel,
> 
> Julia Lawall
> Kernel Community Coordinator

Re: Welcome 2026 applicants

[Julia Lawall]

On Tue, 13 Oct 2026, Yalagada Pavan Kumar wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 05, 2026 at 07:44:06AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> > Welcome Applicants,
> >
> > Thank you for your interest in the Linux Kernel Community!
> >
> > The 'Contribution Period' for the December 2026 Cohort runs until November
> > 2.
> >
> > Our contribution period process works entirely via this mailing list. Make
> > sure that you read over the emails on this list daily.  I will be posting
> > updates here. Most importantly, it is where you will learn from each other,
> > by following the questions asked/answered, the patches submitted, and the
> > reviewer feedback offered.
> >
> > You found this email, now make sure you are personally subscribed
> > to this list:
> > Subscribe: outreachy+subscribe@lists.linux.dev
> > View the archive: https://lore.kernel.org/outreachy/
> >
> > Please feel free to introduce yourself on the mailing list.
> >
> > Ask your questions on the mailing list. If your question is directed at
> > an individual, then CC the mailing list. This way you'll be able get
> > quick responses to the issues you're facing. Please help other applicants
> > who face issues that you've addressed.
> >
> > Your first task is to walk through our First Patch Tutorial:
> > http://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch
> >
> > The tutorial leads you through submitting your first patch. Please
> > do not submit your second patch until your first patch is accepted.
>
> Hi Julia,
>
> My first patch has been added to staging-testing branch by Greg.
>
> I have few doubts:
>
>    1. Does my patch need to reach staging-next or Linus's mainline tree to be
>       considered accepted, or is staging-testing enough?

Accepted by Greg is sufficient.  You can add it to your application.

>
>    2. Can i submit my second patch now or should i wait?
>

You can sunmit another patch.  Now that you have submitted a patch
successfully, you can submit patches as you like.  But it can be good to
avoid modifying the same file before your previous patch on the file is
accepted.  Also if you have doubts about your solution to some problem,
you should wait for feedback before sending other patches on that problem.

>    3. Should i mention the date my patch was accepted or the date it was
>       merged.

Whatever is convenient.  What is important is to put the link to where
your patch can be found.

julia

>
> Thanks,
> Pavan
>
> > Only eligible applicants will be able to log contributions on the
> > Outreachy website.
> >
> > Congratulations on getting your first patch accepted into the Linux
> > Kernel! Celebrate, then do more!
> >
> > Please note the following:
> >
> > * All patches should be on drivers/staging, but not on drivers/staging/media
> >
> > * You can use the check the scripts/checkpatch.pl -f to find simple style
> >   problems in some files.  Use your judgment about whether a suggestion of
> >   checkpatch is a good idea for a change.  Check the mailing list archives
> >   for some changes that are regularly suggested by checkpatch but that are
> >   rejected in practice.
> >
> > * There are not very many checkpatch reports on the current
> >   drivers/staging.  Some other potential fixes to consider include memory
> >   leaks, introducing new kernel features such as guard, scoped_guard, _obj
> >   allocation functions, etc., finding unused functions or variables, etc.
> >
> > Once you have several cleanup patches accepted into drivers/staging by
> > GregKH, we encourage applicants to move on to complete project Starter Tasks
> > that will be outlined:
> > https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#linux-kernel
> >
> > Ping me individually if you think you are done, or close to done, with
> > cleanups. Also, folks who already have cleanup patches from prior work,
> > please get a few cleanup patches accepted, to refresh your memory about
> > submitting kernel patches, and then email me about that too and let's see
> > if we can move you on to project tasks.
> >
> > All the best and thank you for contributing to the Linux Kernel,
> >
> > Julia Lawall
> > Kernel Community Coordinator
>