Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262656AbVCCXC2 (ORCPT ); Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:02:28 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262535AbVCCXBV (ORCPT ); Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:01:21 -0500 Received: from ms-smtp-04.nyroc.rr.com ([24.24.2.58]:23233 "EHLO ms-smtp-04.nyroc.rr.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262663AbVCCWMY (ORCPT ); Thu, 3 Mar 2005 17:12:24 -0500 Subject: Re: RFD: Kernel release numbering From: Steven Rostedt To: David Lang Cc: Linus Torvalds , Jeff Garzik , Greg KH , "David S. Miller" , akpm@osdl.org, LKML In-Reply-To: References: <42265A6F.8030609@pobox.com> <20050302165830.0a74b85c.davem@davemloft.net> <422674A4.9080209@pobox.com> <42268749.4010504@pobox.com> <20050302200214.3e4f0015.davem@davemloft.net> <42268F93.6060504@pobox.com> <4226969E.5020101@pobox.com> <20050302205826.523b9144.davem@davemloft.net> <4226C235.1070609@pobox.com> <20050303080459.GA29235@kroah.com> <4226CA7E.4090905@pobox.com> <422751C1.7030607@pobox.com> <1109883750.591.47.camel@localhost.localdomain> <1109886108.591.58.camel@localhost.localdomain> Content-Type: text/plain Organization: Kihon Technologies Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2005 17:12:02 -0500 Message-Id: <1109887922.591.84.camel@localhost.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.0.3 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1838 Lines: 40 On Thu, 2005-03-03 at 13:53 -0800, David Lang wrote: > > Actually, the >5 was pretty pointless anyway. What I got > > from talking to people is that they wanted a release that only got fixes > > that would crash the machine, or cause a root exploit. That's what I > > thought Linus was trying to say. > > the trouble is that 'crash the machine' can include a HUGE number of the > fixes that go into 2.6.x+1 and you just lost stability again Point taken. Actually, I believe that you would satisfy a lot of people, just if they know that trivial, or smaller fixes are included in the release. If a large change is needed, then those people waiting for a stable product would have to wait till the release that included the big change was at a point that was acceptable to them. What I've heard is that people are nervous about updating a kernel for a small fix, but must also get other features that they don't need and may introduce more bugs. Some IT folks I've talked to are more concerned about the security of the system than the stability. They can feel more comfortable when they see a machine stay up a long time, but there can be security problems that they can't see. They don't want anything else but the fix when one is discovered. Grant you that these are usually few and far between, but this is what I've been told. Of course these people stick to a distributor for the updates, but it would be nice to have this capability in the kernel, for those like myself (and why I state this) that like to tinker with the kernel, and don't use the distro's version. -- Steve - 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/