Kernel quality control, or the lack thereof

Filesystem developers tend toward a high level of conservatism when it comes to making changes; given the consequences of mistakes, this seems like a healthy survival trait. One might rightly be tempted to regard a recent disagreement over the backporting of filesystem-related fixes to the stable kernels as an example of this conservatism, but there is more to it. The kernel development process has matured in many ways over the years; perhaps this discussion hints at some of the changes that will be needed to continue that maturation in the future.

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