Re: RFD: Kernel release numbering

Linus Torvalds
2005-03-03T03:41:07Z

On Wed, 2 Mar 2005, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>
> If we want a calming period, we need to do development like 2.4.x is
> done today. It's sane, understandable and it works.

No. It's insane, and the only reason it works is that 2.4.x is a totally
different animal. Namely it doesn't have the kind of active development AT
ALL any more. It _only_ has the "even" number kind of things, and quite
frankly, even those are a lot less than 2.6.x has.

> 2.6.x-pre: bugfixes and features
> 2.6.x-rc: bugfixes only

And the reason it does _not_ work is that all the people we want testing
sure as _hell_ won't be testing -rc versions.

That's the whole point here, at least to me. I want to have people test
things out, but it doesn't matter how many -rc kernels I'd do, it just
won't happen. It's not a "real release".

In contrast, making it a real release, and making it clear that it's a
release in its own right, might actually get people to use it.

Might. Maybe.

Linus