Re: RFD: Kernel release numbering

Randy.Dunlap
2005-03-03T03:28:50Z

Dave Jones wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 02, 2005 at 04:00:46PM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> > I would not keep regular driver updates from a 2.6.<even> thing.
>
> Then the notion of it being stable is bogus, given how many regressions
> the last few kernels have brought in drivers. Moving from 2.6.9 -> 2.6.10
> broke ALSA, USB, parport, firewire, and countless other little bits and
> pieces that users tend to notice.
>
> The reason that things like 4-level page tables worked out so well
> was that it was tested in -mm for however long, so by the time it got
> to your tree, the silly bugs had already been shaken out.
>
> Compare this to random-driver-update. -mm testing is a valuable
> proving ground, but its no panacea to stability. There's no guarantee
> that someone with $affected_device even tried a -mm kernel.
>
> For it to truly be a stable kernel, the only patches I'd expect to
> drivers would be ones fixing blindingly obvious bugs. No cleanups.
> No new functionality. I'd even question new hardware support if it
> wasn't just a PCI ID addition.

Maybe I don't understand? Is someone expecting distro
quality/stability from kernel.org kernels?
I don't, but maybe I'm one of those minorities.

--
~Randy