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New Linux Kernel Development Process
An anonymous reader writes "Releasing the 2.6.13-rc4 Linux Kernel, Linus Torvalds announced an improved development process to try and minimize the number of bugs in the kernel. The general idea is simple: changes will only be allowed for two weeks after the release of a stable kernel. All the rest of the time between releases will be spent on fixing bugs. This should improve upon last year's development module, which allows for active development in the 2.6 stable kernel."
In 2.6, the move was away from 'good enough' to 'not good enough'. I found the risk of regressions became too high for me to use it for anything important.
Every release had crippling regressions, so the pressure was to find a version with bugs I could work around and never upgrade. But that's no good for security, so I have abandoned 2.6 entirely for anything but desktops that I can wipe and reinstall with something else in half an hour.
I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
If you compile sound, v4l, etc into your kernel, then they will be in your running kernel. If you compile them as modules, then they won't be included in your running kernel until you load the modules.
Two different things you're talkin' 'bout here. Now, most main stream distros have just about everything included as modules, except system-critical stuff, and then use various means to detect your system hardware and load the modules needed.
uh...word.