2.2.14pre1[678] breaks syslog? (was: Re: Linux 2.2.14pre18)

[Michael Alan Dorman]

I have a server, running the Debian potato distribution as of today.

Running kernels up to and including 2.2.13pre15, it behaves normally.

If I install any of the later pre1[678] kernels, it begins to exhibit
odd behavior---it's taken me a bit to figure out what seems to be the
actual culprit: syslog.

Boot up under one of these kernels, and timestamps in syslog suddenly
start running backwards, forwards, any old which-way.  Local processes
seem to hang in odd places as they try to write to /dev/log, while
netstat reports the following:

udp     8336      0 *:syslog                *:*       

I've glanced through the list of changed files for these versions WRT
pre15, and don't see anything obvious.  Does this ring any bells for
anyone?

Mike.