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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process/2.Process.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/process/2.Process.rst | 47 |
1 files changed, 22 insertions, 25 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst index ef3b116492df..7bd41838a546 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst @@ -13,24 +13,19 @@ how the process works is required in order to be an effective part of it. The big picture --------------- -The kernel developers use a loosely time-based release process, with a new -major kernel release happening every two or three months. The recent -release history looks like this: - - ====== ================= - 5.0 March 3, 2019 - 5.1 May 5, 2019 - 5.2 July 7, 2019 - 5.3 September 15, 2019 - 5.4 November 24, 2019 - 5.5 January 6, 2020 - ====== ================= - -Every 5.x release is a major kernel release with new features, internal -API changes, and more. A typical release can contain about 13,000 -changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. 5.x is -the leading edge of Linux kernel development; the kernel uses a -rolling development model which is continually integrating major changes. +The Linux kernel uses a loosely time-based, rolling release development +model. A new major kernel release (which we will call, as an example, 9.x) +[1]_ happens every two or three months, which comes with new features, +internal API changes, and more. A typical release can contain about 13,000 +changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. Recent +releases, along with their dates, can be found at `Wikipedia +<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel_version_history>`_. + +.. [1] Strictly speaking, the Linux kernel does not use semantic versioning + number scheme, but rather the 9.x pair identifies major release + version as a whole number. For each release, x is incremented, + but 9 is incremented only if x is deemed large enough (e.g. + Linux 5.0 is released following Linux 4.20). A relatively straightforward discipline is followed with regard to the merging of patches for each release. At the beginning of each development @@ -48,9 +43,9 @@ detail later on). The merge window lasts for approximately two weeks. At the end of this time, Linus Torvalds will declare that the window is closed and release the -first of the "rc" kernels. For the kernel which is destined to be 5.6, +first of the "rc" kernels. For the kernel which is destined to be 9.x, for example, the release which happens at the end of the merge window will -be called 5.6-rc1. The -rc1 release is the signal that the time to +be called 9.x-rc1. The -rc1 release is the signal that the time to merge new features has passed, and that the time to stabilize the next kernel has begun. @@ -99,13 +94,15 @@ 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 5.x -kernels go out with a handful of known regressions though, hopefully, none -of them are serious. +larger, creating even more regressions the next time around. So most 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 Greg Kroah-Hartman. The stable team will release -occasional updates to the stable release using the 5.x.y numbering scheme. +"stable team," currently consists of Greg Kroah-Hartman and Sasha Levin. The +stable team will release occasional updates to the stable release using the +9.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 |