1.3.22 does:
- created new top-level directory called "Documentation". I moved some
of the README files there just to start the process, and eventually I
expect all the readmes (except for the top-level general README) to
start to migrate..
- updated alpha tree. This should have most if not all of David M-T's
patches, but I haven't actually tried to compile it myself (I'm
waiting for the faster machine ;-). I'd suggest waiting for
confirmation from David (especially as I changed some of the bit
operations blindly).
- kernel thread support starting to appear. The "clone()" system call
is enabled again, and gives you a finer-granularity "fork()" (in
fact, fork() is internally implemented as a clone() with a specific
set of cloning flags). You can chose to share your file descriptors
across a fork(), for example (so when one process closes a file, the
other process has its file closed) etc. You get "traditional" thread
type behaviour if you clone your VM, files, fs, and signal handler
information.
- pte modifications done through an architecture-specific function to
allow sparc etc people to do special things.
- aztcd driver update
- ide driver update
- mcd driver update
- extended paritition handling updated
- scc driver update
- kmalloc rewritten
- various network updates, mcast routing code etc
Kernel threads still have races when it comes to memory area handling
(one process unmapping an area while another process is using it..), and
it will be a while until kernel threads are really stable and supported.
The current code is usable, if untested, though.
Ok, keep me posted on how this works for you: I'm trying to track down a
few strange reports on the 1.3.x series, and it helps if people do take
the time to test it and pound on it a bit (yes, the 1.2.x series are the
stable kernels, but aren't you 1.2.x people getting a wee bit bored by
them already?)
Linus