Speaker announcements update

The LPC Program Committee has made its first selections and speaker notifications are underway. The runners for the microconferences will be notifying their selected participants privately, and we expect to send out microconference announcements once that process completes.

We will also be notifying speakers selected for the General Track over the next two days.

However, please note that initial proposal acceptance does not imply travel  funding has been approved! Travel and lodging funding decisions have not yet been made.

As you might imagine, the small pool of funds available to fund travel and lodging is being very competitively fought over. There might be some churn in program content due to lack of travel funding. We have a large roster of excellent speakers and while that is a blessing, it’s also a challenge to our budget.

We recommend that speakers register for the conference only when they receive the official notification from LPC along with instructions on the discount code to use during the registration process.

We’re very excited about the terrific program we have shaping up, and again, hope to see you all there whether as a speaker or as an attendee!

Stay tuned!

Submissions closed – Thank you!

Submissions to Linux Plumbers Conference 09 are now closed.

Thank you to everybody who submitted – we had an overwhelming response! Author notification will go out July 15th. Whether you’re presenting or not, we hope to see you at the conference – our success is as dependent on the participants as the presenters – our goal is to move code forward!

Submissions to the Linux Plumbers Conference are now closed.

Deadline for proposal submissions is almost upon us!

UPDATE: Deadline submission extended to midnight, June 22nd, PT.

If you haven’t submitted yet, you’ll need to get cracking!  Submissions close at midnight, June 22nd, PT.

The latest update cross posted from LWN:
Please submit your abstracts using the “Submit a proposal” button on the right.

We now have runners for additional tracks:

1. Inter-Distributor Cooperation: James Bottomley
2. Kernel/Userspace/User Interfaces: Jim Gettys
3. Networking: Steve Hemminger
4. Storage: Matthew Wilcox

In addition, we have the runners announced earlier:

1. Security: James Morris and Paul Moore
2. Boot and Init: Dave Jones
3. X Window System: Keith Packard
4. Embedded Systems: Greg Kroah-Hartman and David Woodhouse
5. Audio: Lennart Poettering

Other topics are of course welcome in the General track. The perfect Plumbers topic would feature a real problem whose solution requires the relevant community members to get together face to face, preferably producing a solution during the conference itself. This of course requires buy-in from maintainers and other high-profile people active in the area.

We have an exciting program shaping up! Tutorials include an advanced git tutorial from Linus Torvalds. Keynotes include Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO, live via video with real time Q&A (invitee, to be confirmed), and Keith Packard, Intel, X Window guru.

So, to be part of the excitement, please submit your abstracts by Monday June 22nd!!!

Room rates and LPC/LinuxCon joint registration discount

If you are registering for Plumbers you will receive a 30% discount to LinuxCon! Once you have registered for Plumbers, your “Thank you!” page will provide you with a discount code you can use when registering for LinuxCon.

Also note that the room rate for the conference hotel (the Portland Waterfront Marriott) is now $143/night. You will need to ask for the Linux Group Rate.  See our Attend page for more information on registration and lodging.

Keynote and speaker announcements

The Linux Plumbers Conference is pleased to announce our keynote invitees and other speakers lined up so far.

Keynotes

  • Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO – [live via video, with real time Q&A]
  • (Invitee, To Be Confirmed closer to conference)

  • Keith Packard, Intel, X Window guru


Tutorials

  • Linus Torvalds, Advanced git tutorial

Thank you to everyone who has submitted proposals! A reminder – deadline for submission of proposals is June 15th. We’re very excited about our anticipated program, and hope to see you all there!

LPC 2009 Call For Proposals

The Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) is a developer conference for the open source community. LPC brings together the top developers working on the “plumbing” of Linux – kernel subsystems, core libraries, windowing system, etc. – and gives them three days to work together on core design problems. The conference is divided into several microconferences focusing on different “plumbing” topics, as well as a general track for topics that don’t fit into the microconferences.

LPC is requesting proposals for talks at the LPC microconferences and the general track, proposals for tutorials, as well as proposals for additional microconference topics. Microconference topics thus far include:

  • Security [Runners: James Morris and Paul Moore]
  • Boot and Init [Runner: Dave Jones]
  • X Window System [Runner: Keith Packard]
  • Embedded Systems [Runner: Greg Kroah-Hartman and David Woodhouse]
  • Audio [Runner: Lennart Poettering]

Other topics of interest include:

  • Video Input Infrastructure
  • Networking
  • Storage: filesystems, SSDs, and more
  • Inter-Distributor Cooperation
  • Energy Efficiency, Performance, and Power Management
  • Kernel/Userspace/User Interfaces
  • General: everything else

General track topics include any technical topic related to the Linux software “ecosystem.” Preference will be given to proposals presenting a reasonable solution to a well-known or little-recognized problem, rather than just a problem description on the one hand or a presentation of work already completed on the other.

The perfect Plumbers topic would feature a real problem whose solution requires the relevant community members to get together face to face, preferably producing a solution during the conference itself. This of course requires buy-in from maintainers and other high-profile people active in the area.

The exact timing and organization of speaking slots will be under the control of each microconference’s “runner”, but as a general rule talks should be less than 25 minutes long and speakers should expect discussion and audience interaction. The format of the general track will be determined based on accepted submissions, but will also tend towards short, discussion-oriented talks.

Submission format

LPC invites speaker proposals in the form of extended abstracts. All proposals will be reviewed by the LPC Technical Program Committee (TPC). The extended abstract may be up to 500 words and should include your qualifications to speak about the topic, an overview of your topic, and why your topic will appeal to a technical audience. If you are proposing your topic as a full-fledged microconference, please submit it to the general track, noting it as a microconference proposal (but please read the FAQ entry first).

We also encourage the submission of extended abstracts from members of the academic community on topics of current interest in the Linux community. We are particularly interested in researchers seeking community feedback on work in progress. Proposals to speak on previously published work are welcome, in particular work that has not yet come to the attention of the Linux community.

Submissions should include:

  • Extended abstract (for publication on conference website, max 500 words)
  • Speaker bio (for publication on conference website, max 250 words)
  • Speaker’s email address
  • Notes or background (optional, published on Plumbers site, if desired)
  • Whether travel assistance is requested

Please submit via the web interface. If you wish to include a PDF in your submission, please post it on your web site, and place a link to it in the description. Speaker proposals must be submitted no later than the midnight ending Monday 15 June 2009 PDT (7 AM Tuesday June 16 2009 GMT).

Notification of acceptance and rejection of proposals will be emailed to the authors by 15 July 2009. The deadline for early registration is 31 July 2009.

If you have any questions, please contact the Technical Program Committee at tpc-members@linuxplumbersconf.org.

Travel and registration

At least one author of each accepted presentation must register for LPC and present their work at the conference. Registration is free for speakers. If a speaker has already registered and paid for the conference before notification of acceptance, all registration fees will be refunded in full.

A limited number of scholarships are available to cover speaker travel and will be awarded based on need. If you need assistance paying for travel, please include a request in your submission. If you have any other questions, please email the program committee at tpc-members@linuxplumbersconf.org.

Sponsors

Major sponsors of the Linux Plumbers Conference include Intel, IBM, Google, and HP. The LPC is underwritten by the Linux Foundation. We thank these and all of our other sponsors for their support of this community conference!

We hope to see you at Linux Plumbers Conference 2009!

Linux Plumbers Conf 2009 Registration is Now Open!

We’re pleased to announce that registration is now open for LPC 2009!  You can  go here to register.

Call for Topics posted at LWN

Paul McKenney has posted a Call for Topics (CFT) over at Linux Weekly News. The Program Committee for LPC 2009 is hoping to collect  areas of interest [conflict? :) ] that would serve as interesting and useful microconference topics. There has been some interest and conversation there already, and we hope to receive more prior to the formal Call for Proposals (CFP) later this spring. Get your ideas and suggestions in early! If you have any questions or other suggestions for the Program Committee, please do go ahead and make use of that forum thread to pass us your feedback.

What is Linux Plumbing?

Once upon a time, the kernel stood alone and presented services to the system by way of the system call interface. In current systems, instead, users see a view of the system that is created by a whole set of utilities, including the C library, udev, HAL and more. Interactions between these low-level components and the kernel are not always as smooth as they could be, and despite the best efforts of the kernel development community, kernel releases have been known to occasionally break utilities like udev.

Jonathan Corbet

Jonathan Corbet calls this the “kernel ecosystem”. We call it the “plumbing,” a collection of essential interfaces and services provided by the libraries, kernel, and utilities that make up a Linux system. Currently, when a problem exists that involves both kernel and user space, a developer must attend several different conferences to discuss the problems face-to-face with other key developers. As a result, problems crossing multiple subsystem boundaries are more difficult to solve than those within a subsystem.

The Linux Plumbers Conference was created to bring together the key developers involved in Linux plumbing – the “Linux plumbers” – and give them an opportunity to discuss problems face-to-face, both within subsystems and across subsystems. Participants include invited attendees, speakers selected through an open, competitive review process, and students. Registration is open to the general public as well.

Solving Problems

A number of us on the Kernel Summit mail list have been complaining that we need something like this badly. We need a place for the HAL, dbus, audio framework, kernel, X and other assorted developers to get together and hash out some of this in person. This would be a perfect place for it.

Greg Kroah-Hartman

The goal of the Plumbers Conference is to solve problems. The conference is arranged as a series of microconferences, each on a topic that is narrow enough to identify specific problem areas and brainstorm workable solutions. Each microconference is led by an expert in the field and organized to encourage discussion and problem solving. Microconferences will be scheduled so that representatives from related subsystems can attend other microconferences. In addition to the microconferences, there will be a general track for discussing issues that don’t fit into microconferences, or come up during the conference.

The Linux Plumbers Conference is underwritten by The Linux Foundation and organized in partnership with The Linux Foundation and community volunteers. The Linux Plumbers Conference is a revenue neutral event.

Linux Plumbers Conference 2009 Date and Venue

Linux Plumbers Conference
23-25 September 2009
Portland, Oregon USA

We are pleased to announce that the Linux Plumbers Conference will be held in Portland, OR on September 23-25, 2009 at the Portland Mariott Waterfront Hotel. Additional details will be announced soon.

About the Conference

The Linux Plumbers Conference is a developer conference for the open source community. LPC brings together the top developers working on the “plumbing” of Linux – kernel subsystems, core libraries, windowing system, etc. – and gives them three days to work together on core design problems. LPC is held directly following the 2009 LinuxCon, in Portland, Oregon.