Alan Cox (born 22 July 1968) is a British

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

who has been a key figure in the development of

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

. He maintained the 2.2 branch of the

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ...

and continues to be heavily involved in its development, an association that dates back to 1991. He lives in Swansea,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, where he lived with his wife Telsa Gwynne, who died in 2015 and now lives with author Tara Neale, whom he married in 2020. He graduated with a BSc in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

from

Swansea University , former_names=University College of Swansea, University of Wales Swansea , motto= cy, Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn , mottoeng="Technical skill is bereft without culture" , established=1920 – University College of Swansea 1996 – University of Wa ...

in 1991 and received an MBA from the same university in 2005.

Involvement in the Linux kernel

While employed on the campus of

, Cox installed a very early version of Linux on one of the machines belonging to the university computer society. This was one of the first Linux installations on a busy

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and revealed many bugs in the networking code. Cox fixed many of these bugs and went on to rewrite much of the networking subsystem. He then became one of the main developers and maintainers of the whole kernel. He maintained the 2.2 branch, and his own versions of the 2.4 branch (signified by an "ac" in the version, for example 2.4.13-ac1). This branch was very stable and contained bugfixes that went directly into the vendor kernels. Cox was once commonly regarded as being the "second in command" after

Linus Torvalds Linus Benedict Torvalds ( , ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish software engineer who is the creator and, historically, the lead developer of the Linux kernel, used by Linux distributions and other operating systems such as Android. He also ...

himself, before reducing his involvement with Linux to study for an MBA. On 28 July 2009, Cox quit his role as the

TTY TTY may refer to: Communications and technology * Teleprinter or teletypewriter (TTY), an electromechanical typewriter paired with a communication channel ** Sometimes used more generally for any type of computer terminal ** Sometimes used for a v ...

layer maintainer, after disagreement with Torvalds about the scope of work required to fix an error in that subsystem. Alan was employed by the Linux distributor Red Hat during 1999–2009. Starting from 2011 he was employed by

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...

but left both Intel and Linux kernel development in January 2013 to care full-time for his wife during a critical period of medical treatment, and returned to both later that year, until taking early retirement at the end of 2019. He has also been involved in the GNOME and X.Org projects, and was the main developer of AberMUD, which he wrote whilst a student at the

University of Wales, Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

Fuzix: because small is beautiful

On 31 Oct 2014, Alan Cox announced Fuzix OS, a tiny system V kernel, initially for Z80 on Google+:

Model trains

Alan Cox runs Etched Pixels, a model train company producing N gauge kits.

Activism

Cox is an ardent supporter of programming freedom, and an outspoken opponent of

software patent A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, Library (computing), libraries, user interface, or algorithm. Background A patent is a set of exclusionary rights granted by a State (polity), state to a patent h ...

s, the

DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

and the CBDTPA. He resigned from a subgroup of Usenix in protest, and said he would not visit the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

for fear of being imprisoned after the arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov for

violations. In January 2007, he applied for a series of patents on "RMS", or "rights management systems".List of Alan Cox patents
/ref> Red Hat Inc., Cox's former employer, has stated (in a document drafted by Mark Webbink and Cox himself) that it will not use patents against

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, ...

projects. Cox is also an adviser to the

Foundation for Information Policy Research The Foundation for Information Policy Research is a UK-based think tank that studies the interaction between information technology and government, business and civil society. It has been described by academics as "the leading think-tank on inf ...

and the

Open Rights Group The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues and by fostering a community of grassroots activists. It campaigns on numerous issues including ma ...

Awards

Cox was the recipient of the

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft ("s ...

's 2003 Award for the Advancement of Free Software at the

FOSDEM Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free and open-source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and ...

conference in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. On 5 October 2005, Cox received a lifetime achievement award at the LinuxWorld awards in London. The

University of Wales Trinity Saint David The University of Wales Trinity Saint David ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru Y Drindod Dewi Sant) is a multi-campus university with three main campuses in South West Wales, in Carmarthen, Lampeter and Swansea, a fourth campus in London, England, and learning ...

Awarded Cox an Honorary Fellowship on 18 July 2013. He received an honorary doctorate from the Swansea University, his alma mater, on 20 July 2016.

References

External links

Alan Cox: The maintainer of production version of the Linux kernel
Ch. 5 of ebook ''Open Source Pioneers'', includes a lot of difficult to find interviews.

LWN interviews Alan Cox

Interview with Alan Cox – 15 January 2002

LugRadio interview

Linux Format interview – August 2005

Cathedrals, Bazaars and the Town Council – 1998-10-13

Ogg audio recording of a talk in Limerick, Ireland 2006-05-13
and
transcript of an excerpt, about GPLv3

Video interview with Alan Cox at Hannover Industry Trade Fair, Germany, May 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Alan 1968 births Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Swansea University British bloggers British computer programmers Linux kernel programmers MUD developers Living people People from Solihull People from Swansea