The Kernel documentation is about the Ubuntu Linux kernel, mainly focused on its development processes, tools, schedules, and more.

Documentation

This project is built with Sphinx Stack and hosted on Read the Docs.

View the documentation site at: https://canonical-kernel-docs.readthedocs-hosted.com/en/latest/

Quick start

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/canonical/kernel-docs.git
   cd kernel-docs/docs

2. Build docs:

   make html

3. Build, serve, and auto-reload docs at http://127.0.0.1:8000:

   make run

For remote or VM development, set:

export SPHINX_HOST=0.0.0.0

Common commands

Run these commands from the docs/ directory before submitting changes.

make html         # Build docs
make run          # Build, watch, and serve
make serve        # Serve existing build
make clean-doc    # Remove built docs output
make spelling     # Spell check
make linkcheck    # Validate links
make lint-md      # Markdown/MyST lint checks
make vale         # Style checks
make woke         # Inclusive language checks
make pa11y        # Accessibility checks

Contribute

New documentation, fixes, and updates are greatly appreciated. Be sure to read our contribution guidelines first.

Using Copilot instructions

This repository includes guidance for GitHub Copilot in .github/copilot-instructions.md.

Copilot should follow these repository instructions when suggesting edits, reviews, and documentation checks.

Copilot in VS Code

1. Open this repository in VS Code.
2. Use Copilot Chat and ask it to follow .github/copilot-instructions.md.
3. For documentation work, target files under docs/.

Example prompt:

Follow .github/copilot-instructions.md and review docs/how-to/contribute.md.

Copilot CLI

The Copilot instructions file is a policy/reference file and is not executed.

If your CLI workflow does not auto-load repository instructions, reference .github/copilot-instructions.md explicitly in your prompt.

Example:

gh copilot suggest "Follow .github/copilot-instructions.md and suggest improvements for docs/how-to/contribute.md"

Use Copilot Skills

For comprehensive documentation reviews, use the documentation-review skill:

• Skill file: .github/skills/documentation-review/SKILL.md
• Coverage: build validation, structure discovery, Diataxis classification, structure audit, accuracy verification, style review, and consolidated report.

Prompt example:

Follow .github/copilot-instructions.md. Run the documentation-review skill from SKILL.md on docs/how-to/contribute.md only.