Linux 2.4.18 - the missing patch issue

[Jesper Juhl <jju@dif.dk>]

Ok, so 2.4.18 was released without a fix that onyl matters to a very 
limited number of Linux users, while that's not perfect it's not the end 
of the world either.

A few different solutions have been suggested :

1) People have suggested releasing a new 2.4.18 emidiately which 
includes the missing fix.
2) Someone proposed to release 2.4.19 imidiately which would be 2.4.18 + 
the missing fix.
3) Some people just want to forget about it ;)

All 3 are IMVHO bad ideas for these reasons; nr. 1 would create 
confusion by having two different versions of 2.4.18 floating around. 
nr. 2 would probably also cause some minor degree of confusion amongst 
users and would also give the (wrong) impression that Linux kernel 
releases are not thoroughly tested. I'll not comment on 3 ;)

I suggest that instead of the previously proposed solutions an effort 
should instead be made to release 2.4.19 relatively fast. Instead of 
including a lot of fixes, only include the most critical known fixes in 
2.4.19-pre1 (and maybe -pre2), then go to -rc1 as soon as possible and 
get 2.4.19 out the door pretty fast with important fixes and leave all 
other stuff for 2.4.20-pre1


Just my 0.02 euro-cent


- Jesper Juhl - jju@dif.dk -