Where do the Linux TCP/IP hackers 'live'?

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+2 Q:

Where do the Linux TCP/IP hackers 'live'?

Over the past year or so my production platform has been plagued by an odd TCP/IP issue. I've spent zillions of hours working with competent & knowledgeable sysadmins, scouring the net, reading source code, been jerked around by RH's pathetic support, and crying tears of blood! To no avail. (Google 'unkn-4' and you'll see many posts with my name all over.)

Work-a-rounds are in place, so the issue is not a priority. But the geek in me really would like to understand and solve this problem.

So, where can a moderately competent systems programmer go to ask detailed questions and receive detailed answers from The Lords of TCP/IP stacks? I assume that their world so close to the bare metal, their population so small, is different from my own. That, and they don't want to answer emails to "My modem doesn't work" so they hide in the shadows.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

+3 A:

Dave Miller (person in charge of networking in the linux kernel) and their fellow henchmen all inhabit the lkml or Linux Kernel Mailing List. If you can provide a reasonably decent bug report they'll get you a reasonable answer.

On the other hand if you tell them it's a very old kernel, they'll tell you to try the newest... At the very least you can try searching its archives.

Vinko Vrsalovic 2008-09-08 16:49:42

Mmmm....mailing lists are so...'direct'. I was hoping for something more passive. Is 2.6.9-55 current enough?Linux xtx-le01 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp #1 SMP Tue Jun 12 17:58:20 EDT 2007 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Stu Thompson 2008-09-10 09:21:48

Mailing lists are ridiculously tedious and intrusive. The Open Source community wonders why its not being greeted by more welcome arms in the general technology world and their insistence on mailing lists are part of the reason. It's weird how religious people are about it.

ApplePieIsGood 2008-12-31 18:45:03

I don't know where did you get "not beeing greeted by more welcome arms in the general technology world" from, but the best part of mailing lists is that they are non intrusive. You choose when to read/answer one. And that's precisely why they are used by the very busy people (ie, Linus and friends)

Vinko Vrsalovic 2009-01-02 09:19:48

"Is 2.6.9-55 current enough?" -> Not even close. If you're desperate enough to contact the original developers directly, you should test the issue on the latest stable (and is possible unstable too) version. If it's a real issue that gets some interest, be prepared to apply some custom patches...

viraptor 2009-05-16 03:38:32

+2 A:

The linux-net mailing list might interest you. There should be more details here.

sigjuice 2009-03-26 03:55:06

ansaurus

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Where do the Linux TCP/IP hackers 'live'?

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