This is the top level of the kernel's documentation tree. Kernel documentation, like the kernel itself, is very much a work in progress; that is especially true as we work to integrate our many scattered documents into a coherent whole. Please note that improvements to the documentation are welcome; join the linux-doc list at vger.kernel.org if you want to help out.
The essential guides for interacting with the kernel's development community and getting your work upstream.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Development process <process/development-process> Submitting patches <process/submitting-patches> Code of conduct <process/code-of-conduct> Maintainer handbook <maintainer/index> All development-process docs <process/index>
Manuals for use by developers working to interface with the rest of the kernel.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Core API <core-api/index> Driver APIs <driver-api/index> Subsystems <subsystem-apis> Locking <locking/index>
Various other manuals with useful information for all kernel developers.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Licensing rules <process/license-rules> Writing documentation <doc-guide/index> Development tools <dev-tools/index> Testing guide <dev-tools/testing-overview> Hacking guide <kernel-hacking/index> Tracing <trace/index> Fault injection <fault-injection/index> Livepatching <livepatch/index> Rust <rust/index>
The following manuals are written for users of the kernel — those who are trying to get it to work optimally on a given system and application developers seeking information on the kernel's user-space APIs.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Administration <admin-guide/index> Build system <kbuild/index> Reporting issues <admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst> Userspace tools <tools/index> Userspace API <userspace-api/index>
See also: the Linux man pages, which are kept separately from the kernel's own documentation.
The following holds information on the kernel's expectations regarding the platform firmwares.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Firmware <firmware-guide/index> Firmware and Devicetree <devicetree/index>
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 2 CPU architectures <arch/index>
There are several unsorted documents that don't seem to fit on other parts of the documentation body, or may require some adjustments and/or conversion to reStructuredText format, or are simply too old.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 Unsorted documentation <staging/index>
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 2 Translations <translations/index>