Re: Linux 2.6.32-rc3

Ingo Molnar
2009-10-06T18:18:09Z

* Stefan Richter <stefanr@s5r6.in-berlin.de> wrote:

> Linus Torvalds wrote:
> > So how about this?
> >
> > It changes how CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO works, in the following trivial
> > way:
> >
> > - if it is set, things work the way they always have, and you get a
> > extended kernel release like
> >
> > 2.6.32-rc3-00052-g0eca52a-dirty
> >
> > - but if it is _not_ set,
> [...]
> > we append just "+", so you get a version number like
> >
> > 2.6.32-rc3+
> [...]
> > The "+" could be anything else, of course. The diff is pretty obvious, you
> > can argue about exactly _what_ you'd like to see as a suffix for "and then
> > some".
>
> The "+" suffix is already in informal use with a different meaning.
> It's customary to write "For feature XY, you need kernel 2.6.31+" as a
> shorthand for "kernel 2.6.31 or any later release".

'+' is also informally used to denote addition and a whole ton of other
things. (and likewise all other ASCII characters)

The primary context in where it's used, uname output and "I used kernel
v2.6.31+" statements is pretty unambigous i think.

Ingo