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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process/2.Process.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/process/2.Process.rst | 72 |
1 files changed, 38 insertions, 34 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst index ce5561bb3f8e..a9c46dd0706b 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst @@ -18,17 +18,17 @@ major kernel release happening every two or three months. The recent release history looks like this: ====== ================= - 2.6.38 March 14, 2011 - 2.6.37 January 4, 2011 - 2.6.36 October 20, 2010 - 2.6.35 August 1, 2010 - 2.6.34 May 15, 2010 - 2.6.33 February 24, 2010 + 4.11 April 30, 2017 + 4.12 July 2, 2017 + 4.13 September 3, 2017 + 4.14 November 12, 2017 + 4.15 January 28, 2018 + 4.16 April 1, 2018 ====== ================= -Every 2.6.x release is a major kernel release with new features, internal -API changes, and more. A typical 2.6 release can contain nearly 10,000 -changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. 2.6 is +Every 4.x release is a major kernel release with new features, internal +API changes, and more. A typical 4.x release contain about 13,000 +changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. 4.x is thus the leading edge of Linux kernel development; the kernel uses a rolling development model which is continually integrating major changes. @@ -70,20 +70,19 @@ will get up to somewhere between -rc6 and -rc9 before the kernel is considered to be sufficiently stable and the final 2.6.x release is made. At that point the whole process starts over again. -As an example, here is how the 2.6.38 development cycle went (all dates in -2011): +As an example, here is how the 4.16 development cycle went (all dates in +2018): ============== =============================== - January 4 2.6.37 stable release - January 18 2.6.38-rc1, merge window closes - January 21 2.6.38-rc2 - February 1 2.6.38-rc3 - February 7 2.6.38-rc4 - February 15 2.6.38-rc5 - February 21 2.6.38-rc6 - March 1 2.6.38-rc7 - March 7 2.6.38-rc8 - March 14 2.6.38 stable release + January 28 4.15 stable release + February 11 4.16-rc1, merge window closes + February 18 4.16-rc2 + February 25 4.16-rc3 + March 4 4.16-rc4 + March 11 4.16-rc5 + March 18 4.16-rc6 + March 25 4.16-rc7 + April 1 4.17 stable release ============== =============================== How do the developers decide when to close the development cycle and create @@ -99,37 +98,42 @@ release is made. In the real world, this kind of perfection is hard to achieve; there are just too many variables in a project of this size. There comes a point where delaying the final release just makes the problem worse; the pile of changes waiting for the next merge window will grow -larger, creating even more regressions the next time around. So most 2.6.x +larger, creating even more regressions the next time around. So most 4.x kernels go out with a handful of known regressions though, hopefully, none of them are serious. Once a stable release is made, its ongoing maintenance is passed off to the "stable team," currently consisting of Greg Kroah-Hartman. The stable team -will release occasional updates to the stable release using the 2.6.x.y +will release occasional updates to the stable release using the 4.x.y numbering scheme. To be considered for an update release, a patch must (1) fix a significant bug, and (2) already be merged into the mainline for the next development kernel. Kernels will typically receive stable updates for a little more than one development cycle past their initial release. So, -for example, the 2.6.36 kernel's history looked like: +for example, the 4.13 kernel's history looked like: ============== =============================== - October 10 2.6.36 stable release - November 22 2.6.36.1 - December 9 2.6.36.2 - January 7 2.6.36.3 - February 17 2.6.36.4 + September 3 4.13 stable release + September 13 4.13.1 + September 20 4.13.2 + September 27 4.13.3 + October 5 4.13.4 + October 12 4.13.5 + ... ... + November 24 4.13.16 ============== =============================== -2.6.36.4 was the final stable update for the 2.6.36 release. +4.13.16 was the final stable update of the 4.13 release. Some kernels are designated "long term" kernels; they will receive support for a longer period. As of this writing, the current long term kernels and their maintainers are: - ====== ====================== =========================== - 2.6.27 Willy Tarreau (Deep-frozen stable kernel) - 2.6.32 Greg Kroah-Hartman - 2.6.35 Andi Kleen (Embedded flag kernel) + ====== ====================== ============================== + 3.16 Ben Hutchings (very long-term stable kernel) + 4.1 Sasha Levin + 4.4 Greg Kroah-Hartman (very long-term stable kernel) + 4.9 Greg Kroah-Hartman + 4.14 Greg Kroah-Hartman ====== ====================== =========================== The selection of a kernel for long-term support is purely a matter of a |