LWN: Comments on "Lots of stable kernel updates"

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brianomahoney — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 22:03:08 +0000

LWN and cobet are invaluable to the community, Thanks guys

MFG, omb

Lots of stable kernel updates

theophrastus — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:01:00 +0000

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

Long-term support

freggy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:24:21 +0000

3.2 is also longterm.

Lots of stable kernel updates

istenrot — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 06:04:03 +0000

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

dlang — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:37:30 +0000

> 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

theophrastus — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:31:52 +0000

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!

Long-term support

Jonno — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:51:02 +0000

> supported roughly through the release of 3.n+1-rc1.
Actually, non-longterm 3.n series are guaranteed to get at least one stable release after 3.(n+1) final has been released. This so that if anyone else wants to continue to maintain it (like your distro maintainer), they only have to slug through the stable updates of later kernels to find patches to backport.

Usually that means that the last 3.n.x stable release are made simultaneously with 3.(n+1).1, though sometime it is made between 3.(n+1) and 3.(n+1).1, and sometimes it is made simultaneously with 3.(n+1).2.

Long-term support

linuxjacques — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:45:46 +0000

OK thanks.

I believe kernel.org used to note the LTS kernels but I don't see it anymore.

Long-term support

corbet — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:37:38 +0000

The longterm kernels currently are 3.0 and 3.4. The 3.5 kernel, instead, is on the usual cycle - supported roughly through the release of 3.n+1-rc1.

Lots of stable kernel updates

linuxjacques — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:14:21 +0000

What are the LTS kernels again?

3.6 was just released and 3.5 support is ending?

That just seems wrong.