The Linux-Kernel mailing list is a email-based listed created to aid Linus Torvalds and various other developers in the late 80s in the discussion and trading of patches for the kernel of Linux.

Linux-kernel is run from vger.rutgers.edu using the Majordomo brand mailing list software (send "help" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu for more information).

Many developers stopped using the list around 1998 (including myself) because the signal-to-noise ratio grew far too high. Private emails sent between developers is now (or used to be) the primary method of exchanging important ideas; though the list still plays an important role for random folks wanting to submit patches.