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Future of 2.4 and 2.6 Kernels
Blair16 writes "According to this article on C|Net, not everybody is chomping at the bit for the new Linux 2.6.0 kernel. Marcelo Tosatti, the appointed deputy for the 2.4 kernel is not expecting to make any non-crucial additions to the popular kernel, saying that all new projects should be pumped into the new 2.6. This has upset some people who are not quite willing to move to so-called untested software. Some of their claims seem legitimate, but I wonder if all these people will really be left in the cold?"
From the linked email:
Having that mentioned, I pretend to: - Fix pending problems which might required more intrusive modifications during 2.4.24. New drivers will be accept during this period (for example, Cyclades PC300 driver, input userlevel driver support, or other sane driver which might come up). - From 2.4.25 on, fix only critical/security problems.
Heh, so that solves the issue of being a kernel maintainer with little time on your hands, only pretend to do stuff :)
From the story text:
. This has upset some people who are not quite willing to move to so-called untested software. Some of their claims seem legitimate, but I wonder if all these people will really be left in the cold
Seriously, are people expecting major changes and new features to be added to a kernel that is supposed to be the stable branch? Doesnt this stuff belong in 2.6? or hell, even 2.7? I for one wouldnt like my kernel to constantly have new and untested features when its supposed to be production capable!
Linux kernels are generally released when ready and not sooner.
I don't know, but shouldn't someone actually test it to become tested? This is the way Open Source works, everyone should help developing the software, even non-programmers, by testing, and I guess the kernel team won't release something for production until it is ready for.
The IT section color scheme sucks.
Hasn't this discussion been held before? Stable kernel remain just that - Stable.
New features always go in new releases. Since 2.6 is around the corner, any new feature need to go in 2.7 now. Big deal. Move along, nothing new or interesting to see here.
How do these guys have any credibility? Aren't they just fanboys for whonever buys ads, or for whomever [SPIFFY CONSULTANCY COMPANY] says is the Next Big Thing. Want information? Ask RedHat. Ask Linus. Ask the folks at SuSE. What's next, Slashdotters panicking when Dvorak weighs in on kernel patches?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Of course people want new features AND stability.
Pretty funny.
He sent another mail later that he ment "intend".
;)
Apparently enough people had sent him a patch for that one
If the "well tested" 2.4 kernel were to be adding new features, such new features might risk making it unstable, therefore the time-tested status it has would have to be restarted.
If 2.6 isn't "well tested" enough for your production servers, wait a while. The test of time will perform itself... of course, if you want the new features, you'll just have to take the plunge because somebody's gotta do the testing...
I think the benefits of a few bugs outweigh the problems they may cause. If I can save 5 million dollars in a server deployment and there's a slight risk of a crash but my data is safe then I'll run that risk.
However some companies are still running RH 7.2 so there will be those who stick with the 2.4 kernel as long as they can. This will more likely be the groups that are unable to move their software from 2.4 to 2.6 due to how they built their systems possibly.
Fortunately, there are a few really interesting technologies that have received surprisingly little attention, but which I believe point the way toward Linux overtaking Microsoft, and perhaps even Apple on the desktop:
- Dashboard
- Zero Install
- Gnome Storage
These projects are the future of Linux, they are novel ideas that will allow Linux to leap-frog its non-free competitors on the desktop. It is a shame that they receive so little attention.This is a wonderful idea where a "dashboard" essentially acts as a memory augmentation tool. It watches what you are doing and presents information it thinks might be relevant. For example, if you are chatting with someone on IRC, it will look for information about that person and present it to you (such as their name, homepage, recent blog entries etc). Applications can support it by sending it "clue packets" to alert it to what it might want to pay attention to.
This software essentially eliminates the process of information by mapping web-servers to the filesystem, and combining this with a fast local cache. If your software relies on another piece of software, it can just refer to its binary or libraries on this "web" filesystem, and the appropriate files will be downloaded transparently. The next time you need them, they will be cached. It is infinitely cooler than DEBs or RPMs, and very flexible indeed.
This project blurs the line between filesystems and databases, creating much more flexibility than is possible with more conventional filesystems. This is particularly powerful when combined with Zero Install. Microsoft is also moving in this direction with their WinFS that will be part of Longhorn.
Microsoft no longer develops for Windows 98... Apple no longer develops for OS9...
So they don't want to move on to "untested" 2.6? If people added features to 2.4, it would become just as untested. Nobody's saying to halt all development on 2.4, just not to add new features. Stability fixes will still go in... heck, stability and security fixes are still being added to 2.2! Those who don't want "untested" software favor stability and security anyways... so stick with 2.4.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
The logical volumes manager (device-mapper) is still incomplete in current 2.6 kernels.
:
Snapshots don't work without an experimental patches.
Other patches are needed to make EVMS properly work.
This is a showstopper.
However, if you don't need virtual volumes, yes, 2.6 definitely
1) rocks
2) is stable.
{{.sig}}
Checking SCO site, I couldn't find anything regarding the new 2.6 kernel, so I guess no additional fees are charged over the 2.4 kernel, you can upgrade guys with no worries.
The IT section color scheme sucks.
And it's working great. That's 2 weeks without rebooting.
Now, I don't do anything critical or really strain the kernel at all, but it works great...never had one lick of trouble. It's also very peppy!
But for people running critical servers and the like, I can understand their reluctance.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Marcello's position means that the 2.4.x will become much more solid than any Linux kernel has ever been. As new hardware is introduced, there will be pressure to accept drivers to support popular hardware. I expect that Marcello will accept drivers as necessary for 2.4.x to run on popular hardware -- after all, such new drivers impose minimal risk on users without such hardware. I welcome this development, but will keep on open mind as time prove its merit or lack thereof.
When Linus released 2.4.0, there was a several
month pause before opening 2.5.0. This was to
allow continued bugfix and stabilization work
to happen on 2.4.0. It seems reasonable that
he would do the same w/ 2.6/2.7. So, there should
not be any fear of 2.6 suffering from developer
inattention in the several months after release.
If Linus doesn't release 2.7, the developers can't
ignore 2.6.
Their example is of people who are using XFS with a 2.4 kernel. These people are (according to CNet) "upset" because XFS won't get added to 2.4. Now just think about this for a second: they are using XFS with 2.4 right now! So obviously, they are not being prevented from doing what they want. The whole issue (which CNet is trying to make out as a big deal) is that these people wish they didn't have to perform an extra step (applying a third-party patch). I hardly think it's going to kill these people to keep on doing what they have been doing for a little while longer (i.e. until they decide that the 2.6 series is sufficiently tested that they're willing to trust it). No one is being "left in the cold".
Actually, to be fair to CNet, they're only mildly misrepresenting the situation. The major source of confusion and misrepresentation is (as usual) the slashdot summary.
This has upset some people who are not quite willing to move to so-called untested software. Some of their claims seem legitimate, but I wonder if all these people will really be left in the cold.
This is really not true, since almost ALL the features in the 2.6 branch are available as patches for the 2.4. The 2.4 branch has achieved a nice level of maturity and adding a lot of new stuff to it now makes no sense.
The people complaining should learn the magic of open source. They should realise that at any desirable time they can start mantaining their own tree with their desired features. Hell, starting a new tree is not even necessary since there is such a big variety of 2.4 trees around that the feature they want is most likely already beeing supported by someone else in one of them.
Isn't the joy of the OSS model, that if this were truely a problem, a group of users (presumable corperations interested in the viability of thier 2.4 kernel) could get together to create and maintain a patch for the 2.4 kernel that would back port more then just the critical updates from 2.6? I thought that the whole point of having an open model was to allow everyone to mess with the code to make it fit their needs. I know there is always a fear of forking, and that someone will bring up the issue, but there are many patches some like the -ac patch even get posted on kernel.org.
There has alwasy been a gap between the needs of buisness for stable and realiable software and the desire of enthusiests for the latest and greatest. as Linux continues to gain share in diverse markets, I antisipate that the number of patches will likewize increase, making a kernel that can meet the needs of several different types of users.
JFMILLER
Strive to make your client happy, not necessarly give them what they ask for
The kernel maintainers have been clear on their reasons *not* accepting xfs into linus's tree (see prior posts in this thread). Considering that so many of the people who clamor for xfs (imx) are kids who're principally attracted to it's rep for high performance, yet have no concept of the tradeoffs delineated above -- well I can see why it's not being accepted into mainline. I'm sure if SGI actually cleans up the interface it'll go in but who knows if _that_ will ever happen.
Marcello on XFS:
Linux is Linux, if One need clarify their dist: <Dist>/GNU Linux
bsds are of course just BSD
I disagree, in this case.
2.6 is getting more positive reports and more good buzz on lkml than I have ever seen for a 2.x stable series. There can be no comparison to 2.4's rocky childhood, for example.
I think 2.6 is going to be the smoothest early stable series yet, and that 2.4 is going to be looked back upon as a relative stinker. The subtext in Marcello's posts about 2.4 imply that he thinks the same.
Sometimes I wonder if the difference between 2.4 and 2.6 is the change in the development maintainer's (Linus') source control model -- that is to say, he finally started using one (bitkeeper).
Back in the day, when everyone was excited for the 2.4 kernels to come out, I was waiting very eagerly. You see, I had just purchased a quad-processer machine, and 2.4 was supposed to scale much better than the 2.2 series. Now, as should be imagined, this wasn't a "toy" or "testing" machine, it was a production database server that the entire company depended on.
When 2.4.1 came out, I downloaded it, compiled it, and installed it on the production machine. It purred along beautifully. I completely forgot about it.
Some time later, the o(1) scheduler patches came out, so I downloaded what was the then-current version, 2.4.17. Here's where it gets good: The database server with the 2.4.1 kernel was still running.
No, I don't mean that I was just still using it. I mean that it was *still running*. It had never been shut down, crashed, or had a reboot for any reason.
Based on that experience, I'm not terribly worried about using the 2.6 kernels.
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.