Kernel release status

Linus's BitKeeper repository contains, as of this writing, some networking updates, an ALSA update (to version 1.0.8), some enhancements to the "circular pipe buffers" code introduced in -rc1 (see below), the ioctl() method rework (see below), in-inode extended attributes for ext3, and various fixes.

The current prepatch from Andrew Morton is 2.6.11-rc1-mm1. Recent additions to -mm include the Linux Trace Toolkit (LTT), relayfs, ext3 in-inode extended attributes (subsequently merged), the filesystems in user space (FUSE) patch set, an update to the random driver, and a copy of Dave Jones's "post-halloween" document (in the hope that somebody will be motivated to update it).

Andrew added LTT and relayfs with the explanation: "This is a discussion which needs to be had." The discussion has indeed been lively. Many developers see the value in this code, but object to the implementation. As a result, LTT and relayfs are likely to be slimmed down significantly, with more of the work shifted to user space or a separate loadable module. We may also see the Linux Kernel State Tracer patch submitted to -mm for comparison before the discussion is over.

The current 2.4 kernel is 2.4.29, released by Marcelo on January 19. One change was made since -rc3: the removal of one patch which was causing trouble. The changes since 2.4.28 are mostly bug fixes and driver updates; 2.4 is past the point of getting much in the way of new features.