> > Grr, when did this turn into a RedHat support list?
>
> Who said it had?
An observation: a lot of questions and answers about RedHat specific kernels
which I can't see are relevant here.
> To be honest, my understanding is that ALL of the distributors who use
> packaging systems provide packages with patched versions of the
> sources,
Yes: I was not criticising RedHat for doing this, particularly.
> and the fact that they are patched doesn't stop them being
> Linux.
No, but it renders bug reports about them pretty much useless on _this_
_list_. Bug reports for the official Linus trees and maybe Alan's tree are
relevant, because everyone can get and is likely to already have them. Most
people haven't got a clue what has been stuffed into the shipped kernels
provided with RedHat, Debian, SuSe, Caldera `Open' Linux. Bug reports and
questions for those kernels should go to the vendors; the vendors can then
report issues here if they discover them to be in the official tree as well.
> Normally, the patches in the kernel packages either work their
> way back into the kernel source tree soon after (which accounts for
> well over 90% of such patches),
I agree -- I'm not particularly criticising the existence of the patched
versions (after all, that's the whole point of OSS/GPL'd/free code); I just
don't think the bug reports belong here.
> from makes NO difference whatsoever once it has been installed: The
> resulting system is LINUX.
It's derived from the code that Linus makes available and has dubbed 'Linux',
yes. Can you imagine 'phoning up a car manufacturer and complaining about
some problem with the engine, and then adding "of course, I've customised it
myself quite extensively.."?
> Those patches are almost inevitably included in the following kernel
> release.
Again: I don't have a (particular) problem with the patches being applied.
I do object to seeing potentially vendor-specific bug reports on this list.
> > But it would help if the bug reports talked about "2.2.5-ac2"
> > instead of "2.2.5-22".
>
> My inderstanding of the differences between 2.2.5-15 and 2.2.5-22 is
> that the latter consists of the former patched with SOME of the
> patches in the 2.2.5-ac series, plus SOME of the patches generated by
> Andrea Archangel, some generated by Peter Anvin, etc., and that ALL of
> the differences made their way into the kernel tree by 2.2.7, although
> not all were in there for 2.2.6.
> It would therefore be WRONG to refer to it as being 2.2.5-ac2 (it
> isn't), or in fact to refer to it as anything other than 2.2.5-22.
Yes: you've over-snipped my quote -- either that or I didn't make myself
clear. I was enquiring *if* RH only put the -ac patches into their kernels,
and suggested that if this was true then they should change the labelling.
As you have pointed out, that's not the case, so the suggestion's irrelevant.
> > AIUI Alan is dealing with the stable series now anyway...
>
> Is he?
I think so; there was a remark in one of Linus' posts a few days ago that
suggested Alan was dealing with 2.2.x patches; it makes sense, really: he
works for one of the biggest distribution vendors, so he's presumably going
to see a lot of bug reports.
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