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2.4.9 Kernel Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the download-compile-reboot-repeat dept.

Justin writes: "Linus is off to Finland for a week or so and released 2.4.9. " Here is the Changelog for those of you interested. Yeah, it's probably gonna be a little crowded for a bit. Please post mirrors in the comments.

8 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Release early, release often by proton · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And ofcourse, a slower release rate would also slow the entire development process.

    Has anyone observed the GCC development? People say that Red Hat did a good thing by releasing a development snapshot as 2.96 (altho I dont agree with the version number, I agree with the release).

    If a kernel patchlevel (remember v Major.Minor.Patchlevel?) breaks your application, then I am led to believe that your application is very poorly programmed...

  2. Question by mwalker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hey, does anyone know if they're going to support dumping debugging information for multi-threaded processes into core files? I'm really tired of not being able to post-mortem debug in gdb. I know the errata kernal drops per-pid cores, but that's not like having real core file support.

    Any kernel hackers out there heard whisperings about this?

    --

    --
    What happens when you outlaw guns
  3. ChangeLog... by Alakaboo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I love reading the ChangeLogs. Oftentimes they can be quite humorous:

    - David Miller: undo poll() limit braindamage

    This would have helped Bush during the election.

    - David Woodhouse: up_and_exit -> complete_and_exit

    Up and at'em, Dave!

    - me: make return value from do_try_to_free_pages() meaningful

    Do try for meaningful return values.

    - David Miller: "min()/max()" cleanups. Understands signs and sizes.

    Ouch. // min(-400, 3) == 3 // ??

    - Kevin Fleming: more disks the HPT controller doesn't like

    And you have to wonder about this one...

    - Ben LaHaise: use down_read, not down_write() in map_user_kiobuf.
    We don't change the mappings, we just read them.

  4. Re:NTFS filesystem by SilentChris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When everybody moves to Windows XP, NTFS will get supported REAL quick.

  5. Re:Please don't get me wrong by zulux · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think it's important because Linux is a community supported software. It truly is software that blongs to you and me - we have all the rights we need to use it in almost any way. Windows is not *our* software - we rent it from Bill. Linus, Alan, Richard and countless others have rolled out a red carpet and have welcomed us - they have given us more than software, but have given us freedom to use our computer in the way we see fit. I'm gratfull to them and people like them - and I like to see what they are up to.

    --

    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  6. Re:how many kernels realeased a year? by CMiYC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As many as needed. There are no set times or numbers. If enough little bugs are fixed, it is released. If a major bug is fixed, it is probably released sooner. In general, you only have three reasons to upgrade.

    1) The new one has fixed a bug in something you are using. Such as a new USB driver for your widget.

    2) A major security flaw is patched. Which is done way faster (and more publicily) than in most commerical settings.

    3) You enjoy cutting your teeth on new shit. Which would be a lot of us. :)

    I personally usually only upgrade if there is a dangerous remote exploit or for some functionaility. I only upgraded to 2.4.x for iptables and firewire support. Even though the backport of firewire worked fine for me.

  7. Please don't get me wrong by friday2k · · Score: 1, Insightful

    but what is so exciting about:
    - Alan Cox: more driver merges
    - Daniel Phillips: unlazy use-once
    and so on? I mean is there a Slahdot article when Microsoft gives out a new Windows 2000 SP? Including the changes and fixes (mirrored in the comments)? When there is a new major release, yeah, that's worth a story (and I expect the same when Windows XP ships, when Apple OS XI is there and the next major FreeBSD is out). These are newsworthy stories, a 0.01 change in version number is not. And now, FLAME ON, but I had to write this ...

  8. Re:The problem with frequent kernel releases by garett_spencley · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Some already pointed this out but it was only a minor point in his/her post. It is _the_ point for mine so I will rant entirely about it.

    The only kernel releases that should break applications are the major and minor releases (not the patch/bugfix releases). If you have an app that works with 2.4.7 (for example) and breaks with 2.4.8 then either your app is broken or it's a driver issue where the maintainer fucked up. Which seemed to be what happened to me with Q3A and the SB Live! drivers in 2.4.8. Although I'm not certain wether it's an issue with the drivers or Q3A.

    The patch level releases fix bugs. Sometimes serious bugs. So you should be greatful that they come out as fast as they do. The minor releases (2.2-2.4) only come out every couple of years so I would hardly consider that "Too fast! OMG I can't keep up!".

    </rant>

    --
    Garett