Re: RFC: Starting a stable kernel series off the 2.6 kernel

Matthias Andree
2005-12-03T23:02:57Z

On Sat, 03 Dec 2005, Dave Jones wrote:

> In many cases, submitters of changes know that things are going
> to break. Maybe we need a policy that says changes requiring userspace updates
> need to be clearly documented in the mails Linus gets (Especially if its
> a git pull request), so that when the next point release gets released,
> Linus can put a section in the announcement detailing what bits
> of userspace are needed to be updated.

This isn't acceptable in stable kernels. FreeBSD has a very tight
policy, newer kernels off the same branch support older user space. The
upgrade path is clear, reboot into new kernel, have it spit a few
reminders that your userspace needs update (Linux also has this, for
instance, with SG_IO and its predecessors) but still everything works.

Requiring new userspace at a patchlevel kernel upgrade is nothing but
impertinent, unless that updated userspace ships as part of the kernel.

> It still isn't to solve the problem of regressions in drivers, but
> that's a problem that's not easily solvable.

--
Matthias Andree