Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 3 Feb 2003 06:01:12 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 3 Feb 2003 06:01:12 -0500 Received: from [81.2.122.30] ([81.2.122.30]:29444 "EHLO darkstar.example.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Mon, 3 Feb 2003 06:01:11 -0500 From: John Bradford Message-Id: <200302031111.h13BBRRJ002363@darkstar.example.net> Subject: Re: RFC: a code slush for 2.5? To: jgarzik@pobox.com (Jeff Garzik) Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 11:11:27 +0000 (GMT) Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <3E3E21D3.1090402@pobox.com> from "Jeff Garzik" at Feb 03, 2003 03:01:23 AM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL6] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2377 Lines: 60 > My opinion of 2.5 could be summarized as, looking good, but still needs > some fleshing out. Agreed. > Linux 2.5 is a really exciting leap forward, in a lot a ways. Definitely, the new input layer is particularly cool, in my opinion. Plus, it's still usable on my 8Mb laptop, and usable, but impractical on my 4Mb laptop. > But at the same time, I _disagree_ with some kernel developers' > assertion that we need a code freeze, if that is strictly the "nothing > but bug fixes" definition. I don't think a code freeze is appropriate yet, especially for small additions, (auto-detection of more keyboards, and some kind of blinking light output device, come to mind). > I believe 2.5/2.6 would be better served by an addition period between > feature freeze and code freeze, where implementation and "fleshing out" > can take place. Minor feature additions -- where required by existing > major features -- should be ok. Agreed. > Specific areas I think deserve attention before "nothing but bug fixes" I think we should separate areas in to, 'may have to justify patch != bug fix', and 'need a very good reason indeed why patch!=bug fix'. > So, if I had to make the proposal concrete, I would propose: > "code slush" effective immediately Good idea. > code freeze, Easter holiday (April 19?) Might be too early for some areas. I think we should have two code freeze dates, and assign as much as possible to the earlier one, and all the rest 6-8 weeks later, (or whatever it takes). We need as close to 100% of developers as possible saying that 2.5.final is perfect before we make is 2.6.0. Otherwise we are just bumping the version number for the sake of it. For example, modules have to be working 100%, (I don't mean everything has to be compilable as a module, but rather that those that are need to work), and this needs to have been tested for a couple of months, in my opinon. Also, we are still getting loads of reports of problems with ACPI and APICs, and we need to specifically document that these are completely different things, (we have had some ambiguous bug reports in the past). John. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/