Take GitHub, and boil it down, and it's a mish mash of version control, diff, and patch, all plastered over with a shiny HTTP veneer.
Diff/patch, git, and email alone are the basic tools you need. Even before VCS was a really big thing, that is how software changes were propagated around.
There is nothing wrong with sticking with the basics. In fact, I flat out refuse to tell newbies that they should host everything on GitHub, or GitLab. It's becoming a twisted new form of "social media-esque" hype.
There will always be those who don't like using the mailing lists for back and forth reviews and the same goes for GitHub (I use both anyway and have a self-hosted community GitLab and cgit). This isn't about me, its about attracting potential contributors to the Linux kernel in the long term.
If I were tasked to attract as many beginners/students to go this path, It won't be to start with the Linux kernel or the LKML mailing lists (that will put them off). It would ultimately be other beginner-friendly similar projects like SerenityOS, HaikuOS or some of the BSDs even, etc so they can get some experience. Then their mental model is used to the Git flow so they can transition to using bare Git commands and can go into a technical discussion involving anything about kernel internals.
Since Linux doesn't need to worry about attracting new outsider contributors due to commercial contributors doing most of the work, little needs to change. Which is why from the very start I much rather recommend beginners to start with other OSes and transition later to Linux internals.
Take GitHub, and boil it down, and it's a mish mash of version control, diff, and patch, all plastered over with a shiny HTTP veneer.
Diff/patch, git, and email alone are the basic tools you need. Even before VCS was a really big thing, that is how software changes were propagated around.
There is nothing wrong with sticking with the basics. In fact, I flat out refuse to tell newbies that they should host everything on GitHub, or GitLab. It's becoming a twisted new form of "social media-esque" hype.