Re: RFD: Kernel release numbering

Barry K. Nathan
2005-03-05T00:43:46Z

On Fri, Mar 04, 2005 at 12:07:23PM -0700, Steven Cole wrote:
>
> Here's an idea which might just be too simple, but here it is anyway:
>
> Modifiy the bk snapshot scripts to name the 2.6.x series snapshots as -PREy
> instead of -BKy. That way, the general population of users will see
> the -bk snapshots as -pre releases. According to Linus, pre == bk. So,
> name them as such.

I heartily second this!! If "pre" == "bk", then make it "pre"!

> Linus, wait for at least two weeks before releasing the first -rc.
> That way, the bulk on the thundering herd of patches will be hopefully
> be merged by then. And users will have 2.6.x-PRE[1..14] to test.
> The hard part for the kernel.org script writer might be to disable
> the -bk/-pre snapshot once the first -rc is out.

Errh... personally, I find the -rc-bk snapshots to be useful sync
points. They're also what seems to make it into davej's
"rawhide"/"fc-devel" Fedora testing kernels. (Perhaps those don't get
widely tested, but they do get *some* testing -- e.g. they're how I
managed to hit (and get fixed) the TCP stack overflow.)

I guess the best thing would be for the script to revert to the current
("-bk") naming scheme once -rc1 is out. Otherwise it would need to do,
say, 2.6.12-rc2-pre1 instead of 2.6.12-rc1-bk1, and while that seems
natural to me, I don't know how the rest of the planet's human population
would react...

-Barry K. Nathan <barryn@pobox.com>