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A Flood of Stable Linux Kernels Released

Posted by timothy on from the five-is-better-than-one dept.

Julie188 writes "Greg Kroah-Hartman has released five new stable Linux kernels, correcting minor errors of their predecessors and including improvements which are unlikely to generate new errors. As so often with kernel versions in the stable series, it remains undisclosed if the new versions contain changes which fix security vulnerabilities, although the number of changes and some of the descriptions of those changes certainly suggest that all the new versions contain security fixes."

9 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. unknown? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since when does the kernel team practice security-through-obscurity? It is essential to know when security fixes are available. Many organizations only patch stable systems if there is a security problem.

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    1. Re:unknown? by compro01 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Either the links weren't in TFA when the submitter posted this or they were too lazy to follow them.

      there's a list of changes here.

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    2. Re:unknown? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Alerting people that there are unpatched security holes in earlier versions is exactly what he should be doing. Perhaps they don't prioritize vulnerabilities differently in their development process internally, but those of us who use their software certainly treat security problems differently! /. car analogy warning: would you rather buy a car from a company that treated a recall about the engine exploding and killing you the same way they treat a recall about the light in the trunk failing?

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      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
    3. Re:unknown? by adolf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you don't like the way things are announced, change it. There's absolutely nothing in the world to prevent you from condensing the kernel changelog into a list of security problems that have been fixed, and then publishing your findings in a concise and easy-to-digest form for others to consume.

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  2. Re:2010: Year of the Linux Desktop by jim_v2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For a lot of people it is, for a lot people it isn't.

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  3. Re:Variety is the spice of life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because there just aren't enough rolling release distributions out there. Instead we have things like Ubuntu's LTS releases which hang on to kernels forever (2 years or so which is long enough for around 8 to 10 kernel release cycles).

  4. Oxymoron by bradgoodman · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "Flood of Stable Kernels"

    Last time we sent our customers a "flood of stable releases" we got an angry letter from them...something about Quality Control....

  5. Re:If this were Windows by kiwix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The main reason for this is that the vast majority of Windows programs are Closed Source, while the vast majority of Linux programs are Open Source. When a change in the kernel breaks an Open Source program, it's no big deal because any one can fix the program. With a closed Source program, you have to wait for the author to fix the program, assuming that he still cares about the program...

  6. Re:fixes are fully disclosed, stop fud'ing by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 0, Insightful

    "Because I'm a programmer by trade, this change log is absolutely useless to me.

    Get a software engineer to explain it to you.

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