version number of Linux kernel development

version number of Linux kernel development

[Yubin Ruan]

Hi, 
I got a question regarding to Linux's version number. According to some talk
from Greg KH, there would be an accompanying stable release along with every
-rc release, that is, something like this:

         4.2.0
          |       \
    4.3.1-rc    4.2.1
          |        |
    4.3.2-rc     4.2.2
          |        |
    4.3.3-rc     4.2.3
          |        |
    4.3.4-rc     4.2.4
          |        |
    4.3.5-rc     4.2.5
          |        |
    4.3.6-rc     4.2.6
          |        |
    4.3.7-rc     4.2.7   <- this branch is thrown away after 4.4.0 is released
          |
    4.4.0

So, in this example, 4.2.7 would be thrown away after 4.4.0 is released. Is
this the same for every major release?

I see a series of 4.4.x release, ranging from 4.4.1 ~ 4.4.49,@
    http://elixir.free-electrons.com/linux/latest/source
which really confused me. Accoding to the model above, there should be only
4.4.7. After that, it would 4.5.x.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks,
Yubin

version number of Linux kernel development

[Kamil Konieczny]

On 01.08.2017 06:35, Yubin Ruan wrote:
> Hi, 
> I got a question regarding to Linux's version number. [...]

> So, in this example, 4.2.7 would be thrown away after 4.4.0 is released. Is
> this the same for every major release?
> 
> I see a series of 4.4.x release, ranging from 4.4.1 ~ 4.4.49, at 
>     http://elixir.free-electrons.com/linux/latest/source
> which really confused me. Accoding to the model above, there should be only
> 4.4.7. After that, it would 4.5.x.

Look at https://www.kernel.org/

there are "longterm" branches, they are developed until EOL (end-of-life)

for example, there is now 4.4.79 branch

as i see this, some branches are selected to be "longterm",
and they get the same set patches

-- 
Best regards,
Kamil Konieczny
Samsung R&D Institute Poland

version number of Linux kernel development

[Kamil Konieczny]

Hi,

On 01.08.2017 06:35, Yubin Ruan wrote:
> Hi, 
> [...]
> 
> So, in this example, 4.2.7 would be thrown away after 4.4.0 is released. Is
> this the same for every major release? [...]

see also https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html

-- 
Best regards,
Kamil Konieczny
Samsung R&D Institute Poland