Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755057Ab0GLGvk (ORCPT ); Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:51:40 -0400 Received: from hawking.rebel.net.au ([203.20.69.83]:55338 "EHLO hawking.rebel.net.au" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754170Ab0GLGvj (ORCPT ); Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:51:39 -0400 X-Greylist: delayed 308 seconds by postgrey-1.27 at vger.kernel.org; Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:51:39 EDT Message-ID: <4C3ABA35.7020507@davidnewall.com> Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:16:13 +0930 From: David Newall User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (X11/20090817) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Ted Ts'o" , Martin Steigerwald , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: stable? quality assurance? References: <201007110918.42120.Martin@lichtvoll.de> <20100711131640.GA3503@thunk.org> In-Reply-To: <20100711131640.GA3503@thunk.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1628 Lines: 31 Ted Ts'o wrote: > It is possible to do other types of release strategies, but look at > Debian Obsolete^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Stable if you want to see what happens > if you insist on waiting until all release blockers are fixed I don't know if Ted intended to be snide, but that is how he sounded. And yet, his comment was a fair reflection of how core developers seem to feel about stability, namely that a stable kernel is obsolete and therefore not particularly desirable. (I use the word "stable" in it's common English meaning, not the almost inexplicable Tux variation.) I think the truth is that linux kernels are only ever stable as released by distributions, and then only the more conservative of them. What comes direct from kernel.org, I mean those called "latest stable", are an exercise in dissembling. It's stable because someone calls it stable, even though it crashes and has regressions? That's not stable, that's just misleading. Stable kernels *could* be stable. Debian succeeds. If it takes them a long time, that is only because the core developers fail to release reasonable quality kernels. Don't sneer at them because they do the right thing; do the right thing yourself so that they can produce more timely updates. I don't expect fair consideration of these comments; why change when shooting the messenger is so much more satisfying? -- 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/