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Shuah Khan

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Shuah Khan
Headshot of Khan, who wears glasses, in an indoor setting
Khan in 2018
OccupationSoftware Engineer
EmployerLinux Foundation
Websitewww.gonehiking.org/ShuahLinuxBlogs/

Shuah Khan is an American software engineer recognized for her contributions to the Linux kernel. In 2019, she became the first female Linux Foundation Fellow, joining notable figures such as Linus Torvalds and Greg Kroah-Hartman as the third fellow at the time.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

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Born in India,[1] Khan obtained a bachelor's degree in Electronic engineering and a master's degree in computer science from Colorado State University.[3] After completing her education, she worked at Bell Labs, followed by 13 years at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and 5 years at Samsung.[1][4]

Linux kernel contributions

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Khan made her first contribution to the Linux kernel in 2011,[1] by adding a new device driver for the LED sub-system as part of the Android Driver Mainlining effort.[5]

Khan has served on the Linux Technical Advisory Board (TAB)[6][1][5] and as chair of the ELISA Project Technical Steering Committee.[7] As of October 2024, she maintains the Kernel Selftest (kselftest) framework, the USB over IP driver, the CPU power monitoring subsystem, and the Virtual Media Controller driver.[8] She has significantly contributed to kselftest, a regression testing suite for the Linux kernel.[9][4]

In the early stages, testing in the kernel was mostly limited to build and boot tests. Khan introduced a more comprehensive testing framework to detect regressions earlier, before they could impact users. Her efforts resulted in "kselftest," which enables developers to run sanity tests and ensure the stability of their changes.[9] This framework is now integrated into KernelCI and the 0-day test service.[10] Describing herself as a generalist, she has also contributed to the media subsystem by working on the Media Controller Device Allocator API to solve shared device resource management problems across different subsystems.[11]

Advocacy for inclusive terminology

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In 2020, Khan provided a "Signed-off-by" tag for a patch recommending inclusive terminology in the Linux kernel.[12] This change was approved and merged by Linus Torvalds.[13][14] The patch advised developers to avoid terms such as "master," "slave," "blacklist," and "whitelist."[12][15] Alternatives such as primary/secondary, denylist/allowlist, and blocklist/passlist are suggested.[13]

Community involvement

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Khan also leads the Community Bridge Program, which aims to empower open-source developers by providing tools for funding, improving security, and promoting diversity.[1] She advocates for increasing the participation of women in the kernel community.[11]

Publications

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  • Khan S. "White Paper: Advancing Open Source Safety-Critical Systems" (PDF). The Enabling Linux In Safety Applications (ELISA) project. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 October 2024.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Vaughan-Nichols S (13 March 2019). "Shuah Khan becomes the third Linux Foundation Fellow". ZDNET. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Leadership: Fellows". The Linux Foundation. 7 October 2024. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b Bhartiya S (14 March 2019). "Meet The First Female Linux Foundation Fellow: Shuah Khan". TFiR.io. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b Daily SE (14 March 2019). "Linux Kernel Development with Shuah Khan". Software Engineering Daily. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Challenging, Rewarding, and Fulfilling: A Q&A With Shuah Khan on Linux Kernel Development". The Linux Foundation. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2024 – via Linux.com.
  6. ^ Corbet J (28 September 2024). "Results of the 2024 TAB election September 28". LWN.net. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  7. ^ Nass R (23 June 2021). "Embedded Executive: Shuah Khan, Linux Kernel Fellow, Linux Foundation". Embedded Computing Design. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  8. ^ Torvalds L (5 October 2024). "MAINTAINERS - kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree". Archived from the original on 5 October 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  9. ^ a b Corbet J (20 August 2014). "Kernel self tests". LWN.net. Archived from the original on 5 October 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  10. ^ Corbet J (2 November 2017). "A kernel self-testing update". LWN.net. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
  11. ^ a b Perlow J (29 January 2021). "Interview with Shuah Khan, Kernel Maintainer & Linux Fellow". Linux.com. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Subject: CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology". git.kernel.org. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2024. Signed-off-by: Shuah Khan
  13. ^ a b Cimpanu, Catalin (July 11, 2020). "Linux team approves new terminology, bans terms like 'blacklist' and 'slave'". ZDNET. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  14. ^ Sharwood, Simon (13 July 2020). "Linus Torvalds banishes masters, slaves and blacklists from the Linux kernel, starting now". The Register. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  15. ^ "LKML: Dan Williams: Re: [Tech-board-discuss] [PATCH] CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology". lkml.org. July 6, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2024. Please add my Signed-off-by: Shuah Khan
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