Re: Some thoughts about stable kernel development

[jlnance@unity.ncsu.edu]

> There is a problem that a development cycle (time between stable
> = non-pre/rc versions) is long.

This sentiment is expressed fairly often, and I have never seen it challenged.
However, I am not convinced that it is true.  I do not believe that people
who care about stability want to upgrade to a new kernel with major changes
in it every 9 months.  It also takes a fairly long time for our "stable"
kernels to actually get stable enough that vendors are comfortable shipping
them.  I think if our develpment cycle gets significantly shorter, you will
end up with vendors skipping entire stable series (ie. moving from 2.2 to 2.6
without ever doing 2.4).  I think that would create more pain for us than our
current release cycle length does.

Thanks,

Jim