 kernel.org in December 2024 | |
Type of site | Open sourcerepository |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| URL | kernel |
| IPv6 support | Yes |
| Commercial | No |
| Current status | Active |
kernel.org on theWorld Wide Web is the main distribution point ofsource code for theLinux kernel, which is the base of theLinuxoperating system.
Thewebsite and related infrastructure, which is operated by theLinux Kernel Organization,[1] host therepositories that make all versions of the kernel's source code available to all users. The main purpose of kernel.org is to host repositories used by Linux kernel developers and maintainers of variousLinux distributions. Additionally, it hosts various other projects or theirmirrors, including theLinux Documentation Project (LDP) andCPAN.[2][3]
Since August 2014, kernel.org provides additional security by mandatingtwo-factor authentication forcommits performed to hostedGit repositories that contain source code of the Linux kernel, with support for bothsoft tokens andhard tokens.[4]
On 28 August 2011, developers at kernel.org realized that there had been a major security breach. Intruders had gained root access to the system and added a trojan to the startup scripts. Developers reinstalled all the servers and investigated the origin of the attack.[5] It is likely, although not confirmed, that the kernel.org intrusion is related to the intrusions ofLinuxFoundation.org andLinux.com websites that were determined shortly afterwards.[6][7]
Git, a distributed and open-source source management system designed byLinus Torvalds to guarantee the integrity of the source code, is used to keep track of changes in the Linux source code. This and the fact that the source code is available to anyone and widely known makes any attempt to tamper with the source code fairly easy to detect and revert if required.[8] All that makes kernel.org not the primaryrepository, but rather a distribution point of the kernel sources.
Kernel.org was back online by November 2011, with the exception of a few secondary services.[9] A 27 year old resident of Florida, US was arrested in 2016 for the attack.[10]
