Rusty Russell

Infobox Person
name = Rusty Russell


caption = Rusty Russell speaking at linux.conf.au
birth_name = Paul Russell
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
known_for = Linux kernel development, Free Software advocacy
occupation = Computer programmer
nationality = Australian
employer = IBM [cite web|url=http://ozlabs.org/about.html|title=OzLabs|accessdate=2008-07-20]
website = http://ozlabs.org/~rusty/

Paul "Rusty" Russell is an Australian free software programmer and advocate.

Software development

Russell wrote the packet filtering systems ipchains and netfilter/iptables in the Linux operating system kernel. [cite web
url=http://kerneltrap.org/node/892
title=Interview: Rusty Russell
author=Jeremy Andrews
publisher=KernelTrap
date=2003-09-23
accessdate=2007-05-07] Linus Torvalds has referred to him as one of his "top deputies" [cite web
url=http://news.com.com/2008-1082-1023765.html
title=Torvalds: What, me worry?
author=Stephen Shankland
publisher=News.com
date=2003-07-08
accessdate=2007-05-07] as of 2003.In 2002, Russell announced the creation of the Trivial Patch Monkey, an email address for kernel hackers to submit trivial patches such as spelling errors, one-liners, documentation tweaks and other minor amendments to the code base. Adrian Bunk took over the role in 2005.In 2006 [cite web
url=http://lguest.ozlabs.org/patches/
title=lguest patches repository
author=Paul 'Rusty' Russell
publisher=Ozlabs
accessdate=2007-10-28] Russell started work as the major developer of the " [http://lguest.ozlabs.org/ lguest] " virtualisation system in the Linux Kernel. [cite web
url=http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;765093780;fp;16;fpid;1
title=lguest: Spartan virtualization for Linux
author=Jonathan Corbet
publisher=IDG Communications
date=2007-02-02
accessdate=2007-12-17 ]

Australian Free Software community

Russell conceived and conducted the [http://www.linux.org.au/conf/1999/ Conference of Australian Linux Users] at Monash University in 1999, the forerunner of the annual linux.conf.au conference series.

Russell is intellectual property advisor to Linux Australia and is active in advocating against and critiquing intellectual property elements of the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States. [cite web
url=http://www.builderau.com.au/strategy/futuretech/soa/Kimberlee_Weatherall_and_Rusty_Russell_talk_IP/0,339028285,339273341,00.htm
title=Talking IP with Kimberlee Weatherall and Rusty Russell
author=Chris Duckett
publisher=Builder.au
date=2007-01-31
accessdate=2007-05-07] He was also a member of the Linux Australia committee in 2004 [cite web
url=http://www.linux.org.au/About/Committee
title=Linux Australia Committee
publisher=Linux Australia
accessdate=2007-05-07] .

Russell was the recipient of the inaugural (and eponymous) Rusty Wrench award for service to the free software community at linux.conf.au 2005 [cite web
url=http://linux.org.au/awards.php
title=Linux Australia Awards
publisher=Linux Australia
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060820125200/http://linux.org.au/awards.php
archivedate=2006-08-20] .

Biography

Russell is separated from his wife Alli Russell. They have one daughter, born 2008. [cite web
last=Russell
first=Rusty
title=Welcome Arabella Lilly Russell, into a complex world
url=http://ozlabs.org/~rusty/index.cgi/self/2008-09-01.html
date=2008-09-01
accessdate=2008-09-03]

References

* [http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/09/Rusty_Russell_Interview.pdf "Popping Kernels", Interview in Linux Magazine (UK), 2001]
* [http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8723 Trivial Patch Monkey explained in Linux Journal, 2006]