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Explore the evolution of automated Linux kernel maintenance through a comprehensive conference presentation examining two decades of development in large-scale software transformation tools. Learn about Coccinelle, a specialized tool designed for automating C code transformations in the Linux kernel environment, and discover how it has become an integral part of kernel developers' workflows, contributing to thousands of kernel commits since its inception in 2004. Understand the challenges of maintaining a 27+ million line codebase that spans over 30 years of development and continues to evolve with new features, performance improvements, and security enhancements. Examine the limitations of pattern-based transformation approaches and discover complementary strategies including kernel execution tracing and formal verification methods that address software issues beyond common code patterns. Gain insights into the practical applications of automated maintenance tools in one of the world's most widely deployed software systems, from smartphones to supercomputers, and understand how these approaches contribute to improving performance, understandability, safety, and security in long-lived, large-scale software projects.
