Finding the boundaries for stable kernel patches
The patch in question is a fix to the BIC TCP congestion control algorithm (congestion avoidance, including BIC, was covered here two weeks ago). BIC is supposed to perform a binary search to quickly find the optimal congestion window size. Due to a mistake in the TCP dropped packet code, however, that search was not being performed, and BIC was not working as expected. The (very small) patch makes BIC work the way its designers intended, and would seem to be a useful addition.
As Ted Ts'o pointed out, however, the rules for these kernels include:
It is safe to say that the kernel mailing lists have not been overwhelmed by users complaining that BIC was not converging properly on the best congestion window size. In fact, no users have complained. So, it could be argued, the BIC fix, while worthy, should be merged for 2.6.12 and left out of the 2.6.11.x series.
An answer came from David Miller:
David concluded that, since BIC is enabled by default in the 2.6 kernel,
this sort of implementation fix should take a high priority. This view
seems likely to prevail for this particular patch. Expect more debates,
however, as the kernel developers figure out just where the line should be
drawn for patches being considered for inclusion into the stable 2.6
kernels.
| Index entries for this article | |
|---|---|
| Kernel | Development model |