Operational Testing of Linux Kernel 2.5.x

G3ckoG33k writes "The Open Source Development's Lab has begun operational testing of the 2.5.x Kernel: "The staff at OSDL has been involved with development and testing of 2.5 since the beginning and we've noticed that it seems to be very stable for a development tree. So good, in fact, that we think it is ready to be tested in a production environment. We have planned and begun execution of a project to test the 2.5 kernel in our data center using our production environment. The project includes lots of testing and lots of escape hatches so we don't run recklessly off the edge. We began with some of the simpler, less critical servers and, as we build confidence, are moving to the more complex servers. Today we have several servers running 2.5 and within a month we'll have most of the data center migrated to 2.5." Can anyone say Dare Devils?"

Comments

2.5 impressions

[yokem_55]

I've been running the 2.5 kernel on my laptop for a couple of weeks now to get the new cpufreq support. It seems to work really pretty well. Getting pcmcia-cs to build took some work, but I finally got it up and running and the performance of this new kernel is really nice, especially for the desktop.

I'm using 2.5.66 right now...

[Dr.Dubious DDQ]

I've been playing with the 2.5 series off and on mainly for the USB Storage support (devices that don't seem to work in 2.4 seem to work fine in 2.5 - at least the two or three that I've tried.) For the longest time, there was always ONE of the features that I really wanted that wouldn't compile or work, either the USB, or Video 4 Linux, or something else...

I came back and tried it again at 2.5.63. That was the first version what compiled and ran everything I used perfectly. .64 and .65 seem to have had a timing glitch that messed up my scheduled recordings (by mencoder via V4L), but that seems to be fixed again in 2.5.66, which has been working beautifully for me so far.

I honestly expect to see "2.6.0preXX" versions start appearing in the relatively near future...

Not really that daring

[ahkbarr]

These are folks who don't include every driver and feature available. They probably won't be running preempt, which has been at times problematic. You can get a very stable 2.5 series kernel by being prudent.

All in all, my experience at running 2.5 has been positive, and my only problems have really been with features not likely to be used by folks running special purpose servers.

Re:NVidia Drivers

[pokryfka]

one can compile and load nvidia binary module, though one needs to apply some patches

i am using 2.5.66/2.4.20 alternatively while using nvidia binaries

2.5 works prety well though small changes fool some user space programs

for example since the name extension of modules are different i had to hack my debian debconf script to work properly
also gkrellm memory monitor doesn't work (free works though)

Answer

[BlowChunx]

vmware.

If it hoses your virtual machine, you are out nothing. If you aren't up for the kernel screwing up your*real* machine and having to reinstall everything, leave it alone.

2.4.xx is perfectly fine. You really aren't missing anything. You'll get it soon enough, without the pain. Besides, anticipation makes you appreciate it more.

Not really daring

[ChaoticCoyote]

I've been running the 2.5 kernels since about 2.5.30 -- on my primary workstation, no less. In other words, my livelihood is depending on a development kernel.

It works. For me, I've had almost no trouble, save for some difficulties with the radeonfb driver not liking my DFP when it's attached to the DVI. Overall, though, performance is excellent -- though I do keep studious backups in case soemthing "goes wrong."

2.5 is really a solid pice of work. Yes, it had bugs; follow the kernel mailing list, watch what people say, read the patch lists, and skip releases that seem a bit flakey.