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Sat, 13 Sep 2025 20:18:39 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:18:34 +0700 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Subject: Re: [PATCH] Documentation: process: Do not hardcode kernel major version number To: Randy Dunlap , Linux Kernel Mailing List , Linux Documentation , Linux Kernel Workflows Cc: Jonathan Corbet , Dante Strock References: <20250913015147.9544-1-bagasdotme@gmail.com> <61249b3d-3996-4d9f-814b-3794aa42c40b@infradead.org> Content-Language: en-US From: Bagas Sanjaya In-Reply-To: <61249b3d-3996-4d9f-814b-3794aa42c40b@infradead.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On 9/14/25 04:40, Randy Dunlap wrote: > On 9/12/25 6:51 PM, Bagas Sanjaya wrote: >> -The kernel developers use a loosely time-based release process, with a new >> -major kernel release happening every two or three months. The recent >> -release history looks like this: >> +Linux kernel uses a loosely time-based, rolling release development model. > > The Linux kernel > >> +A new major kernel release (a.x) [1]_ happens every two or three monts, which > > I'm much more used to x.y months, > The reason I use a.x is because a is indeed supermajor (only incremented on occasional cases i.e. in Linux kernel when x gets large enough), and x is already used as second placeholder component. >> +comes with new features, internal API changes, and more. A typical release >> +can contain about 13,000 changesets with changes to several hundred thousand >> +lines of code. Recent releases, along with their dates, can be found at >> +`Wikipedia `_. >> >> - ====== ================= >> - 5.0 March 3, 2019 >> - 5.1 May 5, 2019 >> - 5.2 July 7, 2019 >> - 5.3 September 15, 2019 >> - 5.4 November 24, 2019 >> - 5.5 January 6, 2020 >> - ====== ================= >> - >> -Every 5.x release is a major kernel release with new features, internal >> -API changes, and more. A typical release can contain about 13,000 >> -changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. 5.x is >> -the leading edge of Linux kernel development; the kernel uses a >> -rolling development model which is continually integrating major changes. >> +.. [1] Strictly speaking, Linux kernel do not use semantic versioning > > the Linux kernel does not > >> + number scheme, but rather a.x pair identifies major release > > x.y ? > m.n ? > rather the a.x > See my above reply. >> + version as a whole number. For each release, x is incremented, >> + but a is incremented only if x is deemed large enough (e.g. >> + Linux 5.0 is released following Linux 4.20). >> >> A relatively straightforward discipline is followed with regard to the >> merging of patches for each release. At the beginning of each development >> @@ -48,9 +42,9 @@ detail later on). >> >> The merge window lasts for approximately two weeks. At the end of this >> time, Linus Torvalds will declare that the window is closed and release the >> -first of the "rc" kernels. For the kernel which is destined to be 5.6, >> +first of the "rc" kernels. For the kernel which is destined to be a.x, >> for example, the release which happens at the end of the merge window will >> -be called 5.6-rc1. The -rc1 release is the signal that the time to >> +be called a.x-rc1. The -rc1 release is the signal that the time to >> merge new features has passed, and that the time to stabilize the next >> kernel has begun. >> >> @@ -99,13 +93,13 @@ release is made. In the real world, this kind of perfection is hard to >> achieve; there are just too many variables in a project of this size. >> There comes a point where delaying the final release just makes the problem >> worse; the pile of changes waiting for the next merge window will grow >> -larger, creating even more regressions the next time around. So most 5.x >> -kernels go out with a handful of known regressions though, hopefully, none >> -of them are serious. >> +larger, creating even more regressions the next time around. So most kernels >> +go out with a handful of known regressions though, hopefully, none of them > > I would add another comma: regressions, > >> +are serious. >> >> Once a stable release is made, its ongoing maintenance is passed off to the >> "stable team," currently Greg Kroah-Hartman. The stable team will release > > and Sasha Levin: > STABLE BRANCH > M: Greg Kroah-Hartman > M: Sasha Levin > This can go on separate patch, I think. Thanks. -- An old man doll... just what I always wanted! - Clara