Re: Proposed stable release changes

[Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 07:40:49PM -0400, Josh Boyer wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 6:40 PM, Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Given that I had to just revert a patch in the recent stable releases
> > that didn't get enough time to "bake" in Linus's tree (or in -next), I
> > figured it was worth discussing some possible changes with how "fast" I
> > pick up patches for stable releases.
> >
> > So, how about this proposal:
> >
> > - I will wait for a -rc to come out with the patch in it before putting
> >   it into a stable release, unless:
> >         - the maintainer ACKs it, or sends it directly (like DaveM does
> >           for networking patches)
> >         - I have seen enough discussion about a patch to show that it
> >           really does fix something / is good / doesn't cause problems.
> >         - obviously safe, i.e. "add a device id" type thing.
> >
> > Given that we have -rc releases every week, except for the initial -rc1
> > release, I don't think this will really cause any major delays.
> >
> > Also, now that we are about to head into my busy "travel season", odds
> > are, I'll be at least a week behind anyway, so this would probably start
> > happening without an "official" change.  It's been a boring summer, I've
> > been able to keep up with the stable stuff really easily, causing
> > problems like this :)
> >
> > Objections?  Comments?
> 
> I like this overall.  The only thing I might change is "wait for -rc2"
> for patches tagged with CC: stable that go in during the merge window.
>  It seems those are the ones that tend to bite us.

Maintainers can always tag their patches to have me hold off until -rc2
for that.

And, given the huge number of patches for stable that come in during
the -rc1 merge window, there's no way I can get to them all before -rc2
comes out, so this will probably end up being the case for most of them
anyway.

thanks,

greg k-h