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The Linux Foundation’s on-demand session My Life as a Linux Kernel Developer and Maintainer with Paul E. McKenney was recorded July 7, 2026, with Shuah Khan as moderator. It focuses on McKenney’s experience developing and maintaining the Linux kernel, including technical and interpersonal skills and ways to stay engaged over a long career. The Foundation describes the session as complimentary.
What is the Paul E. McKenney session?
It is an LF Live: Mentorship Series event from the Linux Foundation, not a book or a general Linux course. The Foundation presents it as an on-demand recording featuring McKenney and moderator Shuah Khan, with attendee questions. The event page provides the recording and describes the discussion scope; it does not provide a transcript. See the official session page.
The wider LF Live mentorship program is a free virtual series intended to offer expert knowledge and interactive discussion on Linux kernel and other operating-system development topics. The Linux Foundation’s series page explains the program.
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Who is Paul E. McKenney?
The Linux Foundation identifies McKenney as the co-inventor and lead maintainer of the Linux kernel’s RCU implementation. RCU, or Read-Copy-Update, is a concurrency mechanism used in the kernel; his role makes the session relevant to readers interested in both systems engineering and the work of maintaining a major open-source project.
#1 Best Overall
The Foundation’s event biography says McKenney has coded for five decades and spent more than half that time working on parallel hardware. It also describes him as a member of the C and C++ standards committees with expertise in concurrency, and reports more than 300 other publications and more than 10,000 citations. These are biographical claims presented by the event host, rather than independently audited measures.
What does the session say it will cover?
The official description frames the conversation around McKenney’s experience as a kernel developer and maintainer. It says he will discuss technical and interpersonal skills, along with a mindset that helps him remain engaged over time. Those themes make the event useful to people considering kernel contributions, learning how maintainership fits into software development, or thinking about sustaining a long-term technical practice.
The event description does not establish the specific advice, stories, or conclusions McKenney gives during the recording. Treat the listed themes as a preview, not as a detailed account of what was said.
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Use the Linux Foundation event page to access the on-demand session. The page confirms a recording, but not a transcript or slides. It identifies the recording date as July 7, 2026; that is the session date, not necessarily the date it became available to watch.
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What is useful background reading?
Readers who want a deeper technical companion can consult McKenney’s open-source book, Is Parallel Programming Hard, And, If So, What Can You Do About It? The kernel.org release page lists version v2026.06.21a and provides multiple PDF formats. It notes that the default two-column layout is intended to be easiest to read in paperback form. This is a separate work about parallel programming, not access to or a substitute for the webinar. View the book and available formats on kernel.org.
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