Revamped Linux Kernel Numbering Concluded

kernel_dan writes "Following on the heels of a prior discussion about a kernel numbering scheme, KernelTrap has the conclusion. From summary: "Linus Torvalds decided against trying to add meaning to the odd/even least significant number. Instead, the new plan is to go from the current 2.6.x numbering to a finer-grained 2.6.x.y. Linus will continue to maintain only the 2.6.x releases, and the -rc releases in between. Others will add trivial patches to create the 2.6.x.y releases. Linus cautions that the task of maintaining a 2.6.x.y tree is not going to be enjoyable.'" Torvalds suggested specific guidelines to alleviate burn-out of the .y maintainer and Greg KH volunteered to begin maintainership."

Comments

Gregkh already made one point release

[Xpilot]

You can find it in his own subdirectory on kernel.org at:

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/greg kh/v2.6.11/

It includes tiny fixes such as a Dell laptop keyboard fix and a raid6 compilation fix for ppc.

I wonder...

[Anonymous Cumshot]

If this will make Andres Salomon security & bug fixes patchset obsolete since it pretty much focuses on the same things that Linus wants to see for the 2.6.x.y releases..

FYI, Andres Salomon's patchset provides the foundation for Debian's kernels and has been discussed recently on kerneltrap here and here.

Re:What was wrong with the old way?

[moonbender]

There's a reason Ars Technica switched from Linux to Windows, and stayed there.

Yes, there is. Quoted from their article on the redesign:

Q. Why did you change over from Linux?

A. This is a loaded question, so we'll be brief. Ars started out on Windows NT back in 1998, but shortly after that we moved to FreeBSD, and then later, Linux. We ran Linux until March of 2004, when we made the move to Windows Servers. Linux and Apache had served us quite well, but when we turned to look at building our new CMS, .NET was simply so attractive for our needs that we felt it warranted the switch. If there are enough requests, we may do an article later documenting our thought process, but for now I'll say that the decision was largely a programming one, with the added benefit of the fact that more of us support Windows in our real lives than Linux.

I don't know - did they ever release that article documenting the thought process?