March 2026

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f833fdfe-12f1-413f-966a-4c3ce9ad626e@kernel.org/T/#u

In the period of October 1, 2025 through March 31st, 2026, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

Reports received: 3

Code of Conduct scope and enforcement related reports: 3

• Education and coaching on the role and scope of the Code of Conduct.
• Report about insensitive comments about projects and code that don't fall under the scope of the Code of Conduct.
• Report about insensitive comments made in a setting outside the scope and purview of the Code of Conduct.

We would like to thank the Linux kernel community members who have supported the adoption of the Code of Conduct and who continue to uphold the professional standards of our community. If you have questions about this report, please write to <conduct@kernel.org>.

September 2025

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/all/dfa4d9f3-8b56-46fc-9d1b-68e07a3d6edc@kernel.org/

In the period of April 1, 2025 through September 30, 2025, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

Reports received: 3

Code of Conduct scope and enforcement related reports: 2

• Education and coaching on the role and scope of the Code of Conduct.
• Report about insensitive comments about projects and code that don't fall under the scope of the Code of Conduct.
• Report with questions about DCO which doesn't fall under the scope of the Code of Conduct.

Actions:

• Ban on a developer was lifted after it expired.

Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 1

• Resolved with the individual making amends for their behavior.

We would like to thank the Linux kernel community members who have supported the adoption of the Code of Conduct and who continue to uphold the professional standards of our community. If you have questions about this report, please write to <conduct@kernel.org>.

March 2025

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/all/2025043021-reprogram-gloss-acb5@gregkh/

Updates to the Code of Conduct documents:

• The Code of Conduct documentation has been updated to clearly outline the enforcement when Unacceptable Behavior Code of Conduct Violations take place, and outline the Technical Advisory Board's role in approving remedial actions recommended by the Code of Conduct Committee.

Reference:

https://docs.kernel.org/process/code-of-conduct-interpretation.html#code-of-conduct-interpretation

In the period of April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

Reports received: 17

Development process related reports:

• Education and coaching on maintainers' right to accept or reject patches. Clarifying the expectations that developers can't demand their patches to be reviewed and/or accepted by the community. These reports were about a developer demanding their patch to be accepted even after repeated attempts by maintainers advising the developers to understand the development process.

Code of Conduct scope and enforcement related reports:

• Education and coaching on the role and scope of the Code of Conduct. Several reports from people outside the kernel community reporting past incidents before the Code of Conduct was adopted. Reports resolved clarifying the scope and validity of reports about past incidents before adopting the Code of Conduct.

Insensitive comments reports:

• Education and coaching on the role and scope of the Code of Conduct. Reports about Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) related actions and offhand comments in technical discussions that do not rise to the level of violations.

Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 6

• 4 reports resolved instituting remedial measures on two individuals restricting their participation in development process.

  -- Rejecting pull requests from an individual for a full release cycle.

  Reference: https://lore.kernel.org/all/6740fc3aabec0_5eb129497@dwillia2-xfh.jf.intel.com.notmuch/

  -- Banning an individual for 3 months from Linux kernel mailing lists.

  Reference: https://lore.kernel.org/all/67cf7499597e9_1198729450@dwillia2-xfh.jf.intel.com.notmuch/

• Others - Resolved with the individuals making amends for their behaviors.

We would like to thank the Linux kernel community members who have supported the adoption of the Code of Conduct and who continue to uphold the professional standards of our community. If you have questions about this report, please write to <conduct@kernel.org>.

March 2024

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/r/355aee5f-13ce-4e20-9ce8-e5bcddd14bc2@linuxfoundation.org

In the period of October 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

• Unprofessional behavior or comments in email: 2

The result of the investigation:

• Education and coaching clarifying the role of Code of Conduct conduct on conversations that don't go against the CoC.
• Education and coaching the individuals on the impact of making unprofessional comments which could be misunderstood leading to negative impressions about the community.

The reports were about the offhand comments made while rejecting the code which are not violations of the Code of Conduct

Unacceptable behavior or comments on a private invitee only chat channel: 1

• Education and coaching clarifying the role of Code of Conduct conduct on conversations that occur on a private chat channel.

We would like to thank the Linux kernel community members who have supported the adoption of the Code of Conduct and who continue to uphold the professional standards of our community. If you have questions about this report, please write to <conduct@kernel.org>.

September 2023

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/r/3351be6b-854e-479d-832c-83cb8829c010@linuxfoundation.org

In the period of April 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

• Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 4

The result of the investigation:

• Education and coaching clarifying the Code of Conduct conduct related to normal review and patch acceptance process: 3
• Clarification on the Code of Conduct conduct related to maintainer rights and responsibility to reject code: 1

The reports were about the discussion during the patch review and decisions made in rejecting code and these actions are not viewed as violations of the Code of Conduct.

Please see the excerpt from the Responsibilities section in the Linux Kernel Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct Interpretation document:

setting expertise expectations, making decisions and rejecting unsuitable
contributions are not viewed as a violation of the Code of Conduct.

March 2023

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/r/557ef895-ad2d-eff9-7cb8-70dbcf41adea@linuxfoundation.org

In the period of October 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

• Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 6

The result of the investigation:

• Education and coaching clarifying the Code of Conduct conduct related to normal review and patch acceptance process: 1
• Clarification on the Code of Conduct conduct related to maintainer rights and responsibility to reject code: 5

The reports were about the decisions made in rejecting code and these actions are not viewed as violations of the Code of Conduct.

Please see the excerpt from the Responsibilities section in the Linux Kernel Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct Interpretation document:

setting expertise expectations, making decisions and rejecting unsuitable
contributions are not viewed as a violation of the Code of Conduct.

September 2022

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/r/57a492fb-928b-9e0a-5f0e-dc95ef599309@linuxfoundation.org

In the period of April 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022, the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

• Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 1

The result of the investigation:

• Resolved with a public apology from the violator with a commitment from them to abide by the Code of Conduct in the future.

April 2021

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/r/448b06e4-41fc-26df-a862-c3ba2f70b6b3@linuxfoundation.org

In the period of November 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021 the Code of Conduct Committee received the following reports:

• Unacceptable behavior or comments in email (3rd party): 4

The result of the investigation:

• Education and coaching: 1
• Public response to call attention to the behavior and request correction with consequence of ban if behavior persists: 1
• Public response to attention to the behavior and request correction: 1
• Clarification on the Code of Conduct conduct related to maintainer rights and responsibility to reject code: 1

October 2020

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20201105083002.GA3429143@kroah.com/

In the period of January 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020 the Committee received the following reports:

• Unacceptable behavior or comments in email: 1
• Unacceptable comments in github repo by non-community members: 1
• Unacceptable comments toward a company: 1

The result of the investigation:

• Education and coaching: 1
• Locking of github repo for any comments: 1
• Clarification that the Code of Conduct covers conduct related to individual developers only: 1

September 2018 to July 2019

Archival copy: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20190810120700.GA7360@kroah.com/

In the period of September 15, 2018 through July 31, 2019, the Committee received the following reports:

• Inappropriate language in the kernel source: 1
• Insulting behavior in email: 3

The result of the investigations:

• Education and coaching: 4