Zack's Kernel News
Zack's Kernel News
Chronicler Zack Brown reports on the latest news, views, dilemmas, and developments within the Linux kernel community.
Kernel Versions
Linus Torvalds announced that a 4.0 release would be coming up within the next year or so. He also clarified how he planned to structure future version numbers.
In ancient days, Linus tried a variety of approaches to version numbering, including the most famous scheme, which involved odd-numbered kernels (e.g., 2.3.x) accepting new features, and even-numbered kernels (e.g., 2.4.x) accepting bugfixes only.
That approach collapsed with the 2.6 tree, mostly because (newsflash) bugfixes are a pain in the butt, and developers prefer to code new features. It had reached the point where a significant number of developers would just go into hibernation during the stabilization series, which dragged out the process further.
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