Visualizing Software Evolution in Linux: A Hierarchical Graph-Based Heat Map

Linux is a large open-source operating system. Its size makes it difficult for developers to fully grasp the system as a whole. Visualizations of the Linux kernel can provide developers with better program comprehension and understanding of evolution processes. This paper presents a visualization of Linux commit activity using a hierarchical, heat-map based graph. Using a large data set of commit data from Zenodo, we model the Linux structure as a directed hierarchy. Each node in the graph represents a subsystem, and edges show a parent-child relationship within the Linux architecture. The graph is rendered radially in Unity with a color gradient applied to nodes to indicate the volume of commits made to each subsystem. The result is an interactive, intuitive view of development hot-spots in the Linux kernel, aimed at supporting further software evolution analysis. Challenge video link: https://youtu.be/5rNFFZl16v4