Dan Carpenter
Software Engineer at Linaro
Uganda
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolDan Carpenter is a seasoned Linux kernel developer with 26 years of systems-level experience and a proven track record of high-impact bug fixes and tooling. He is the author of Smatch, a powerful static analysis tool prized for its cross-function and flow analysis, and has been among the top ten kernel bug fixers since 2010. His contributions span major projects like libbpf and mt76, where he fixed subtle signedness, endian, and use-after-free issues that improve reliability in BPF tooling and wireless drivers. At Oracle he was part of the kernel.org security response team and reported thousands of kernel bugs, and he now continues kernel-focused engineering at Linaro from Uganda. Notable for deep low-level expertise, he combines static analysis tool development with pragmatic driver and BSP fixes across diverse architectures.
26 years of coding experience
17 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science, Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science at Bemidji State UniversityAssociate's degree, Associate's degree at Oak Hills Christian College
Github Skills (38)
debug10
assembly10
system-programming10
routers10
libbpf10
net10
memory-management10
firmware10
router10
c-programming10
c1110
linux-kernel10
networking10
bpf10
c1710
Programming languages (2)
Github contributions (5)
jonsmirl/mpc5200
Nov 2006 - Jun 2011
Digispeaker
Role in this project:
System/Software Architect
System/Software ArchitectContributions:675 commits in 4 years 7 months
Contributions summary:Dan primarily contributes to the maintenance and bug fixing of the Linux kernel, which is at the core of the mpc5200 repository. They are focused on identifying and resolving issues related to memory management, locking mechanisms, and error handling within various drivers and subsystems. Their work involves applying patches to fix potential null pointer dereferences, memory leaks, and other critical errors, demonstrating a deep understanding of the kernel's internal structure.
libbpf/libbpf
Feb 2019 - Jul 2022
Automated upstream mirror for libbpf stand-alone build.
Role in this project:Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:5 commits in 3 years 5 months
Contributions summary:Dan primarily focused on fixing bugs related to signedness issues within the libbpf library. Their contributions involved modifying code to ensure correct handling of signed and unsigned integer types, particularly in areas such as BTF (BPF Type Format) processing and array data dumping. They addressed multiple issues, improving the library's reliability and preventing potential data corruption or unexpected behavior. Their work demonstrates a deep understanding of low-level programming and kernel-related contexts.
bpfstand-alonestandtracingebpf
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