Lots of stable kernel updates [LWN.net]

Lots of stable kernel updates

Posted Oct 8, 2012 2:31 UTC (Mon) by theophrastus (guest, #80847)
In reply to: Lots of stable kernel updates by linuxjacques
Parent article: Lots of stable kernel updates

I just "git pull"ed and (after hundreds of lines of updates) my Makefile remains:
VERSION = 3
PATCHLEVEL = 6
SUBLEVEL = 0
EXTRAVERSION =
NAME = Terrified Chipmunk

So i'm not in some stream which includes/receives "stable" releases, apparently [shrug]

However, given the Wikipedia excerpt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel#Version_numbering):
/---
On 29 May 2011, Linus Torvalds announced that the kernel version would be bumped to 3.0 for the release following 2.6.39, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Linux. It continued the time-based release practice introduced with 2.6.0, but using the second number...i.e. 3.1 would follow 3.0 after a few months. An additional number (now the third number) would be added on when necessary to designate security and bug fixes, as for example with 3.0.18.
\---
Is there any reason to understand that 3.6.1 is a "stable release" (as opposed to a "security and bug fix")?

thankee!

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Lots of stable kernel updates

Posted Oct 8, 2012 2:37 UTC (Mon) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]

> Is there any reason to understand that 3.6.1 is a "stable release" (as opposed to a "security and bug fix")?

a 'stable' release is security and bugfix, so it's two ways of saying the same thing

so 3.6 is released, 3.6.x are bugifx updates to 3.6, all new development is headed for 3.7

normally, around the time that 3.7.1 is released, all support will cease for 3.6.x

"Long Term Support" kernels are ones where someone has decided to support them for a longer timeframe. Currently 3.0.x and 3.4.x are in this category. There is no firm timeframe for when support for these will cease.

Lots of stable kernel updates

Posted Oct 8, 2012 6:04 UTC (Mon) by istenrot (subscriber, #69564) [Link]

You need to track Greg's stable tree in addition to Linus' master tree in order to get stable releases.

You probably have already cloned Linus' tree:
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git

Next add Greg's stable tree:
git remote add stable git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git
git remote update

Start tracking Greg's stable 3.6 releases:
git checkout -b stable-3.6 stable/linux-3.6.y

Use git describe, to verify you have 3.6.1 sources.

Do git remote update && git pull, whenever you want to refresh your cloned repos.

Lots of stable kernel updates

Posted Oct 8, 2012 16:01 UTC (Mon) by theophrastus (guest, #80847) [Link]

Thank you very much! This remains one of the only forums where one can apparently learn these important things.

Learn

Posted Oct 8, 2012 22:03 UTC (Mon) by brianomahoney (subscriber, #6206) [Link]

LWN and cobet are invaluable to the community, Thanks guys

MFG, omb