According to Phoronix, Dan Carpenter, the primary developer behind the Smatch static analysis tool for the Linux kernel, has announced his funding is ending. His work at Linaro, part of a larger kernel quality project, will wrap up at the end of this year unless new financial support is found. Carpenter has been working on Smatch since 2010, first at Oracle and now at Linaro, and his work has led to a staggering 5,568 kernel patches, making him the 12th top bug fixer. He’s also the number 2 bug reporter with 2,587 reports, almost all driven by Smatch. The tool is integrated into several subsystem CI pipelines, like Media and Wireless, and used by many maintainers. Now, its future is uncertain without immediate corporate sponsorship.
Why Smatch Matters
Here’s the thing: static analysis isn’t magic. It’s a persistent, grinding process of teaching a tool to recognize bad code patterns. Carpenter doesn’t just run a scanner and call it a day. He actively reviews CVEs to figure out how Smatch could have caught those bugs earlier. And the kernel is a living, breathing beast—new APIs and subsystems are added constantly. A static checker that isn’t updated just… bit rots. It becomes useless. So when Carpenter says it’s an “on-going process,” he means it’s a full-time job keeping this critical safety net functional and relevant. Without that dedicated maintenance, the entire Linux ecosystem loses a layer of defense against subtle, nasty bugs that human reviewers might miss.
The Funding Dilemma
This situation highlights a classic open-source problem. Smatch is a foundational infrastructure tool. It makes the kernel more secure and stable for everyone, from giant cloud providers to tiny embedded device makers. But its development hinges on a single individual’s salary. The value is diffuse across the entire industry, while the cost is concentrated. Carpenter’s call for companies with “other large C projects” is interesting. It suggests the tool’s value extends beyond the kernel, and finding broader applicability might be the path to sustainability. But can he secure that funding in time? The clock is ticking toward year’s end.
A Wider Lesson
Look, this isn’t just about one tool. It’s about the invisible plumbing that keeps major software projects from collapsing. We see this in industrial computing, too. The reliability of a system—whether it’s the Linux kernel or a manufacturing panel PC running on it—depends on these unsung quality assurance processes. Companies that rely on this stability, especially in critical fields, often don’t think about the tools that enable it until they’re about to vanish. Carpenter’s numbers prove Smatch’s impact is massive and quantifiable. The question is whether that data is compelling enough for a consortium of companies to step up. If not, the kernel community might not realize what it’s lost until a few more sneaky CVEs start popping up.
