Re: Linux 2.6.9-rc1

[Martin J. Bligh]

>>					 Linus, is there a chance that 
>> there will be a x.y.z.W release of an old kernel after the next x.y.Z.w 
>> has been released and no longer is -rc? For example releasing a 2.6.8.2 
>> after 2.6.9 has been released and no longer is a 2.6.9-rcX.
> 
> I don't see the point of such a release, so I'd say "no". Once we have a 
> stable kernel, we make updates to _that_ one, not older ones.
> 
> HOWEVER - there may well be exceptions to this brought on by distribution 
> usage etc. For example, if some distribution ends up basing it's work on 
> (say) 2.6.8.1, and we later find a bug, we might release a 2.6.8.2 even 
> though we might have done a 2.6.9 or even 2.6.10 later - just as a way to 
> support the existing users who take a long time to update.
> 
> I consider that a pretty remote possibility, though. It's a lot more 
> likely that the distribution-maker itself just does it's own patch on top 
> of whatever release he started off with.

My assumption would be that once 2.6.9 is released, it's not uber-stable
immediately ... so it'd be nice to keep at least one minor rev back
going on the bugfix stream (eg 2.6.8.X) .... for people who want an 
uber-stable kernel. Doing more than 1 back would indeed seem 
counter-productive.

That said it's unlikely there would still be urgent fixes for 2.6.8 a few
weeks after it was released, but it seems like the right thing to do, at
least in principle (maybe for a security fix, or something).

M.

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