Re: Linux-2.5.17

I can live with not building, crashing, or even eating filesystems.  Those
things will be fixed sooner or later.  But breaking userspace programs -- that
may well be permanent.  If there was a good chance it would be working again by
the time 2.6 comes out, it wouldn't bother me.  But I really don't expect this
to change, so it looks like I won't be able to use 2.5 (or anything later) until
I get another version of gtop, or fix this one myself.  And so there will be yet
another nonstandard change to my patchwork system that I'll have to deal with
(if I even remember it) the next time I try to upgrade (i.e., reinstall)
Slackware.

Russell King <[e-mail]> on 05/21/2002 06:29:23 PM

To:   Wayne Brown/Corporate/Altec@Altec
cc:   [e-mail]

Subject:  Re: Linux-2.5.17

On Tue, May 21, 2002 at 06:20:56PM -0500, [e-mail] wrote:
> So, I'm just getting used to the idea of using new tools to build kernels,
> and now I learn that 2.5 breaks an ordinary program that I use all day,
> every day. It just keeps getting better and better...

The 2.<odd> series, like 2.5 is a strictly development kernel series; new
features go into these all the time.  You can expect it to:

1. not build.
2. crash.
3. silently eat your filesystems.
4. break userspace programs.

or any combination of the above.  If you're looking for stability, stick
with the 2.<even> series.
--
Russell King ([e-mail])                The developer of ARM Linux
             http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/personal/aboutme.html