What is it?

The Eudyptula Challenge is a series of programming exercises for the Linux kernel, that start from a very basic "Hello world" kernel module, moving on up in complexity to getting patches accepted into the main Linux kernel source tree.

How do I do it?

Email little at eudyptula-challenge.org and say that you want to join in. You will receive an email with your first exercise and details on how the challenge is run. All communication goes through email, just like the Linux kernel is developed.

Please note, all HTML-formatted email will be merrily rejected, please fix your email client to not send HTML email if you wish to do this challenge. Linux kernel mailing lists reject HTML email and so do we.

What are the rules?

There aren't any, with the exception that you really should be doing your own work. This challenge is for you, not anyone else, so don't ask about how to solve them on mailing lists or IRC. Posting answers to the questions online is also frowned apon, as it really doesn't help anyone out.

Also, we can tell if you are cheating, we have our ways...

What skills do I need to take this?

A basic understanding of the C programming language is required. No previous Linux kernel coding experience is needed, but that of course will help.

Where did this idea come from?

The idea for this came to us after a long night of drinking in which it was determined that if the Linux kernel was to survive, it would need new programmers to fix all of the bugs that were recently added after a long night of drinking.

This Challenge is also modeled after the wonderful Matasano Crypto Challenge, which, if you haven't taken it already, you really should do so, it's smashing fun.

Who is behind this?

A set of convoluted shell scripts that are slow to anger and impossible to debug.