2.6.29 is made up of 11,010,647 lines of code, with the number of developers who contributed to it reaching a record high of 1,166. Unlike the lines of code that make up the kernel, the number of developers has not been constantly climbing.

The Linux Foundation has found that the number of developers putting work into the Linux kernel is growing fast, tripling over the past three years. Over that period, the number of individual contributors has doubled. Linux is being used more often as the firmware found in consumer electronics, and now more than 70 percent of all kernel development is done by paid professionals.

There are dark areas of the kernel where only the bravest hackers dare to tread. Places where the code is twisted, the requirements are complex, and everything depends on ancient code which has seen little change over the years because even the most qualified developers fear the consequences. Arguably, no part of the kernel is darker and scarier than the serial terminal (TTY) code.

The Linux world makes much of its community roots, but when it comes to developing the kernel of the operating system, it's less a case of "volunteers ahoy!" and more a case of "where's my pay?".

The Linux Foundation, which is something akin to the marketing arm of the open source operating system kernel and its related systems software, has today released its second report detailing how the Linux 2.6 kernel is evolving. The report reveals how it is coding the changes in the kernel and what companies are sponsoring the programmers who are making the changes - if any.

Linus Torvalds, Andrew Morton and eighty other important kernel developers are now debating how they plan to proceed with the future development of Linux at the Kernel Summit 2008 in Portland, Oregon.

If you have coding skills and want to use them to develop open source software you have several options. You can start a new project by yourself or with some friends, or you can join an existing project. The advantage of the former is that you get to make the rules and there is a pretty good (i.e., 100%) chance that your code will be accepted.

And finally for some good news... :-) "Microsoft's Windows platform is losing traction with application developers in North America, according to a survey by Evans Data."

With more companies funding Linux work, the core hackers now delegate 70% of the coding