So, I don't really know much more than the basics of C -- though I rather hope that will soon change -- but since having my first pull-request on GitHub accepted back in May, contributing to the Linux Kernel seemed like a reasonable next step.

The Linux Kernel is an enormous body of code. Somewhere in the region 15 million lines of C and Assembly. Development is not driven by any one company, and not even really by one organisation. The Linux Foundation describes itself as

a non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux

It doesn't steer development, and to quote Linus

Linux is evolution, not intelligent design

Its just a lot of developers submitting code to other developers, and so on, until it reaches Linus at the top of the tree, and that's how the Kernel happens. There are a lot of companies that do employ people full-time to contribute, but anyone can if they are so inclined.

And I am. My first patch is just to tweak the format of some documentation comments in the code to conform with the comment style. Honestly, I don't even know what the file is for. I know its for a driver, but no idea what that driver is for. But I don't need to. The Kernel is updated often in tiny, easy to verify alterations, and that's what I can (try to) provide.

My change is here in all its glory.

Let's hope there are more in the future.