Release management issues

Posted Jun 5, 2003 8:30 UTC (Thu) by MLKahnt (subscriber, #6642) [Link]

I suspect that it may be more notable at this point because people are waiting for an official kernel, post-ptrace security escalation problem. Marcelo's official kernels, once released, have been solid, and the presence of -pre## editions have also helped to ensure that bad oversights don't slip through as official kernels, and I do cut him much slack given that, unlike Alan Cox, he hasn't been doing this for years, so it may not be automatically second nature for him yet.

It is just that some of us are not as comfortable applying a patch to the kernel for a security problem, for fear of doing it wrong and getting at best code that doesn't build, at worst code that builds and runs fine, and opens the system wider than ever for unauthorised exploitation. I know that I'd rather have a kernel *done right* that I can build appropriately for my systems.