Re: Proposed stable release changes

[Stephen Warren <swarren@wwwdotorg.org>]

On 08/20/2013 04:40 PM, Greg KH 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: [...]

Presumably the idea is that much useful testing only happens on -rc
kernels rather than linux-next or arbitrary points in Linus' tree.

If so, then don't you want to wait for two -rc releases to come out that
include the patch?

When the first -rc that contains the patch is released, people will test
it then. This won't happen immediately, but might take a few days.

By the time the second -rc that contains the patch is released, that's
presumably enough time for people to have tested the first -rc, and
hence we then presume the patch doesn't cause too many issues.

That's still only an average of 1.5 weeks delay, with a min-max of 1-2,
ignoring the merge window and assuming bugfix patches go quickly
upstream from subsystem maintainers.