The Linux Kernel Archives are perhaps most familiar through their web interface, http://kernel.org/. The latest release of the Linux kernel is easily found here, along with patches by various Linux kernel hackers, and mirrors of other popular free and open source projects. Countless people worldwide happily rely on this archive without giving much thought to the effort behind it.

In a recent announcement to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, H. Peter Anvin detailed a recent upgrade of the infrastructure behind kernel.org. The new servers were donated by Hewlett-Packard, and are each quad Opterons with 24 gigabytes of RAM and 10 terabytes of disk space. Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. donates the bandwidth in the form of two independent gigabit-connected datacenters, PAIX Palo Alto and e200paul in San Francisco. H. Peter Anvin, Nathan Laredo, and Kees Cook all donate time to maintain the archives. KernelTrap recently spoke with Peter Anvin to learn more about the history behind the Linux Kernel Archives.