Re: Embedded Linux Flag Version

[Mike Frysinger <vapier.adi@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 12:17, Tim Bird wrote:
> On 11/09/2010 03:19 AM, Mike Frysinger wrote:
>> On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 18:07, Tim Bird wrote:
>>> It was noted at the summit that several CE companies and embedded
>>> projects will be using (or are already using) 2.6.35 for upcoming
>>> products or releases. This includes Sony, Google, Meego, and Linaro. On
>>> behalf of the CE Linux Forum and a number of consumer electronics
>>> companies, projects and community developers, we therefore declare
>>> 2.6.35 as a flag version of the kernel for embedded use. Several
>>> companies will be investing in development, integration and testing of
>>> this version. Entities wanting to do business with those companies would
>>> therefore be well-advised to make sure their hardware, drivers and
>>> enhancements work well with this version of the kernel.
>>
>> wouldnt it make more sense to piggy back the extensive work going into
>> the "stable" tree ?  many of the points you raise after all are the
>> entire founding point of it.  plus, all the main distros form around
>> that, are spending time working on that, is marked as supported for 2
>> or 3 years, and there is already infrastructure/framework/process in
>> place (stable@kernel.org).
>>
>> so instead of picking arbitrary versions (like 2.6.35) and needlessly
>> replicating the huge work load, simply declare these stable trees as
>> the "flag" versions.  that means today it'd be 2.6.32.y.
>
> The fact that this tree is already a year old, and not likely to be
> brought forward for at least another 2 years is the reason we didn't
> choose it this time.  Most of the high-profile, active embedded projects
> are already on 2.6.35.  For companies looking to adopt a new base kernel
> in the next 12 months, I don't want to have them start with a year-old
> kernel.  We did consider the utility of synchronizing with the enterprise
> stable tree, but the timing just didn't work too well this time around.

so you're suggesting this is a one-off choice.  in the future, the
"flag" versions will simply piggy the existing stable trees ?
-mike