Possible changes to longterm kernel maintenance

Greg Kroah-Hartman has posted a proposal for some changes to how the stable and (especially) longterm kernels are maintained. The changes are being driven by users other than the enterprise distributors. "Now that 2.6.32 is over a year and a half, and the enterprise distros are off doing their thing with their multi-year upgrade cycles, there's no real need from the distros for a new longterm kernel release. But it turns out that the distros are not the only user of the kernel, other groups and companies have been approaching me over the past year, asking how they could pick the next longterm kernel, or what the process is in determining this." The core idea is to pick a new longterm kernel once a year; that kernel would then be maintained for two years thereafter. There is some discussion on Google+; it should move to the mailing list around August 15.

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