Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S965426AbVKGReg (ORCPT ); Mon, 7 Nov 2005 12:34:36 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S965318AbVKGR3T (ORCPT ); Mon, 7 Nov 2005 12:29:19 -0500 Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:64179 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S965248AbVKGR3L (ORCPT ); Mon, 7 Nov 2005 12:29:11 -0500 Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 09:28:35 -0800 (PST) From: Linus Torvalds To: Christopher Friesen cc: Krzysztof Halasa , Eric Sandall , Willy Tarreau , Russell King , Tony Luck , Paolo Ciarrocchi , linux kernel mailing list Subject: Re: New (now current development process) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <4d8e3fd30510291026x611aa715pc1a153e706e70bc2@mail.gmail.com> <12c511ca0510291157u5557b6b1x85a47311f0e16436@mail.gmail.com> <20051029195115.GD14039@flint.arm.linux.org.uk> <20051031064109.GO22601@alpha.home.local> <436F8ABE.9020605@nortel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1838 Lines: 41 On Mon, 7 Nov 2005, Linus Torvalds wrote: > > So repeat after me: "Most people never test -rc kernels". Btw, the ones that _do_ test -rc kernels usually don't test all of them. The current model is set up in a way where there is _one_ special -rc kernel that we should try to get people to test: the first one. That hopefully encourages people to try an -rc kernel who might otherwise decide that there's too many -rc kernels to bother with. If they know that all of the real development happened before -rc1, they also are thus aware that it doesn't really matter which -rc kernel they test, so just testing _one_ is very good indeed. The first -rc kernel is also special in another way: it's the one we "wait" for. It's the one that happens after two weeks, and has a deadline. The others happen more frequently, and are really objectively less important than the first one. (In contrast, some other projects try to make the _last_ -rc be the important one. That's totally the wrong way around, because if there are more people testing the last one, the testing happens at _exactly_ the wrong point in time from a "let's fix the problems" standpoint) So the call to people who can be bothered to test at all: if you only test one -rc kernel, please test the first one. That way we get a heads-up on problems earlier. (And if you like testing -rc kernels, please test all of them. Or even the nightly snapshots. Or track the git tree several times a day. The more, the merrier, but if you only want to boot one kernel a month, make it be the -rc1 kernel). Linus - 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/