Re: New dev model (was [PATCH] delete devfs)

Adrian Bunk
2004-07-21T23:52:37Z

On Wed, Jul 21, 2004 at 05:11:23PM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:

> > Ok, is there anywhere else that isn't subscriber-only that has the scoop?
>
> For those who weren't here, the basic scoop is this:
>
> - 2.6 is doing great, despite the fact that (by Andrew's reckoning) some
> 10mb/month of patches are going into it.
>
> - Linus is majorly pleased with how the partnership with Andrew has been
> working, and few people feel that he shouldn't be. He is a little
> concerned about breaking a highly effective process when 2.7 forks.
>
> - There is not a whole lot of pressure to create a 2.7 now, but a lot of
> interest in getting patches into the mainstream quickly.
>
> The end result is that there may not be a 2.7 for a while. Instead,
> significant patches will continue to go into 2.6, after a vetting period
> in -mm. Andrew stated his willingness to consider, for example,
> four-level page tables, MODULE_PARM removal, API changes, and more. 2.7
> will only be created when it becomes clear that there are sufficient
> patches which are truly disruptive enough to require it. When 2.7 *is*
> created, it could be highly experimental, and may turn out to be a
> throwaway tree.
>
> Andrew's vision, as expressed at the summit, is that the mainline kernel
> will be the fastest and most feature-rich kernel around, but not,
> necessarily, the most stable. Final stabilization is to be done by
> distributors (as happens now, really), but the distributors are expected
> to merge their patches quickly.
>
> Anybody disagree with that summary?

Thanksfor this mail, this is exactly the information that was missing.

Discussing the contents:
Changes that remove functionally like Greg's patch are hopefully
still 2.7 stuff - 2.6 is a stable kernel series and smooth upgrades
inside a stable kernel series are a must for many users.

> jon

cu
Adrian

--

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"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
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