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

Dave Jones
2005-12-03T23:09:45Z

On Sun, Dec 04, 2005 at 12:02:54AM +0100, Matthias Andree wrote:
> 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 BSDs have an advantage in that their userspace & kernels are closely
coupled. When kernel changes need a userspace change, it gets done at the
same time in the same repository.

Dave