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'Moss-covered Tortoise' 2.0.40 Linux Kernel

Posted by timothy on from the slow-and-steady-wins-the-race dept.

An anonymous reader writes "KernelTrap reports that David Weinehall has released the 2.0.40 stable Linux kernel, calling it the "Moss-covered Tortoise". It earned this name by being released over 3 years after its predecessor, 2.0.39. Those still using the 2.0 kernel are recommended to upgrade for numerous reasons, including fixes to local exploits and remote information leaks. View the changelog and download the new kernel from a kernel.org mirror."

2 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. They took it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Moss-covered tortoise"? They borrowed my nickname for my beloved 386 SX-16 !

  2. Re:local root by tao · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, I released patch-2.0.40-pre1 (the first pre-patch for the 2.0.40-kernel) very soon after I first got to know about the exploit (in 2001), so no, I don't feel particularly guilty about this. People who still use 2.0-kernels for their machines shouldn't use them for multi-user purposes in a hostile environment (and firewall them _very_ carefully if they dare to connect them to the Internet), something I have stated publicly several times.

    Of course I still include fixes for this kind of bugs when I get reports about them, but I won't rush a new 2.0-kernel when a new exploit surfaces, just a new pre-patch with the fix. If I had a broad user-base that could test every pre-patch thoroughly and provide me with feedback, the situation might've been different.

    Regards: David Weinehall