Re: New dev model (was [PATCH] delete devfs)

[Adrian Bunk <bunk@fs.tum.de>]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2004 at 05:11:23PM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:

> > Ok, is there anywhere else that isn't subscriber-only that has the scoop?
> 
> For those who weren't here, the basic scoop is this:
> 
> - 2.6 is doing great, despite the fact that (by Andrew's reckoning) some
>   10mb/month of patches are going into it.
> 
> - Linus is majorly pleased with how the partnership with Andrew has been
>   working, and few people feel that he shouldn't be.  He is a little
>   concerned about breaking a highly effective process when 2.7 forks.
> 
> - There is not a whole lot of pressure to create a 2.7 now, but a lot of
>   interest in getting patches into the mainstream quickly.
> 
> The end result is that there may not be a 2.7 for a while.  Instead,
> significant patches will continue to go into 2.6, after a vetting period
> in -mm.  Andrew stated his willingness to consider, for example,
> four-level page tables, MODULE_PARM removal, API changes, and more.  2.7
> will only be created when it becomes clear that there are sufficient
> patches which are truly disruptive enough to require it.  When 2.7 *is*
> created, it could be highly experimental, and may turn out to be a
> throwaway tree.
> 
> Andrew's vision, as expressed at the summit, is that the mainline kernel
> will be the fastest and most feature-rich kernel around, but not,
> necessarily, the most stable.  Final stabilization is to be done by
> distributors (as happens now, really), but the distributors are expected
> to merge their patches quickly.
> 
> Anybody disagree with that summary?

Thanksfor this mail, this is exactly the information that was missing.

Discussing the contents:
Changes that remove functionally like Greg's patch are hopefully 
still 2.7 stuff - 2.6 is a stable kernel series and smooth upgrades 
inside a stable kernel series are a must for many users.

> jon
 
cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed