Alan Cox
Alan Cox ( born July 22, 1968 in Solihull, England ) is a British software developer and one of the first and best-known Linux kernel developer.
Biography
Alan Cox began his Linux career when he performed one of the first network installations in the University of Wales in Swansea. Out of interest in the free Unix software, he began to read the source code and began to troubleshoot. His first own project in the Linux kernel was the network module, which he implemented completely new. His work has quickly made him one of the main developers of the Linux kernel.
Alan Cox was the official maintainer of kernel versions due to its good relationship with Linus Torvalds and the intensive work on kernel 2.2.x. After publication of this version he worked on the kernel versions 2.4.x, where he oversaw a separate branch ( identified by the suffix "ac " in the Version text signed, for example: 2.4.13 - ac1 ), which is known for its high stability and safety.
Alan Cox has long been regarded by Linus Torvalds as the main developer of Linux. Since the release of the 2.6 kernel, he adopts a less central role, but is still responsible for some subsystems of the kernel. He is known primarily for its repairs to the kernel and its activity in the mailing lists. Linus Torvalds describes Alan Cox jokingly in this quote:
"Note did nobody reads every post in linux-kernel. In fact, nobody who Expects to have time left over to do any real kernel work Actually want to read even helped. Except Alan Cox, but he's not human Actually, but about a thousand gnomes working in under- ground caves in Swansea. None of the individual gnomes read all the postings Either, they just work together really well. "
" Note that nobody reads all contributions of the Linux kernel mailing list. The fact is: No one who still wants to have enough time to work somehow the kernel is read only half of it. Except Alan Cox. But he is not really a man, but about a thousand gnomes working in the caves of Swansea. The individual Gnome also do not read all the posts, they just simply work very well together. "
2003 Cox was awarded the FSF Award. In September 2003, Cox moved for one year from the Linux development back. During this time he wanted to finish his Master of Business Administration. To this end, he took to his employer, Red Hat a long-term holiday ( on sabbatical ). He returned in late 2004 back.
About Linus Torvalds he said in an interview in March 2005:
" Linus is a good developer, but is a terrible engineer. I'm sure he'll agree with me did. "
" Linus is a good developer, but a terrible engineer. I 'm sure he will agree with me. "
According to Cox, Linus Torvalds was a good developer, but hate cleaning up errors and beta testing. Both developers have different ideas of Linux. While Linus Torvalds emphasis on ease of use and maintenance of the kernel, Cox puts the emphasis on stability, and this goal justifies his view, sometimes a code "hack".
After ten years working for Red Hat gave Cox 23 December 2008 its planned for mid-January 2009 Intel transition known. Previously, he was already technical director at cymru.net and worked among others for Companies like NTL, 3Com, Sonix and Adventure Soft.
Alan Cox lives in Swansea, Wales.