On Friday 16 April 2004 00:26, Warren Togami wrote: > Florin Andrei wrote: > > On Thu, 2004-04-15 at 19:36, Charles R. Anderson wrote: > >>On Thu, Apr 15, 2004 at 07:29:38PM -0700, Florin Andrei wrote: > >>>Sure, one could compile a newer kernel, but that way the Red Hat changes > >>>to the kernel (which are often good for demanding apps such as digital > >>>recorders) will be lost. > >>The stated goals of Fedora are to stay as close to mainline upstream > >>as possible. This includes the kernel. > > [the FC1 latest kernel is] 2.4.22-1.2174.nptlsmp > > The latest 2.4 version of the Linux kernel is: 2.4.26 > > That doesn't seem to me like any kind of closeness to the alleged > > "goals". ;-) > Seriously though, in 99% cases the only way you will get anything into > the Fedora kernel is to convince upstream to include it. Upstream > inclusion means that a LOT more users and developers will be using and > supporting it than Red Hat or Fedora alone. That is a significant > advantage that should not be overlooked. Everbody is missing the point. The point is this: FC2 is released, possibly with kernel 2.6.6. A month later, 2.6.7 is released, incorporating security fixes as well as new features, like a new ALSA that better supports, say, Echo Layla24 (the current ALSA support is experimental). (Layla24, BTW, is an 8 input 10 output high end 24bit /96ksps audio interface (not a sound card, since the card in the PC is just a special digital bus interface to an external 1U rack mount box) that has killer professional specifications, but has not been very well supported as yet). The 2.6.7 release might also have, say, a major ATM bug fixed in the ForeRunner HE622 driver (listed as unsupported) (I use an HE622 here). The linux-atm project does not release separate patch tarballs, but only releases through 'upstream' kernels. Traditional Red Hat and FC1 backported the security fix only and kept the kernel version the same (in this example, that would lose the improved Layla24 support as well as the HE622 bugfix that are in the new UPSTREAM kernel). The question before the group becomes: "Will FC2 release an errata for a patched 2.6.6 or will FC2 release a 2.6.7 that has the security fix AND the updated drivers/features/whatnot, along with any updated packages that might be necessary for the new kernel?" We know the previous policy; we want to better understand the new policy. Just saying that the goal is to be closer to upstream doesn't directly address this issue, IMHO. To me, the current statement simply means that the Fedora Core kernel, at the time of release, will be as close as possible to the upstream kernel, at the time of the Fedora prerelease freeze. Errata kernels are not mentioned, AFAICT, unless I am very much misreading the statement. -- Lamar Owen Director of Information Technology Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute 1 PARI Drive Rosman, NC 28772 (828)862-5554 www.pari.edu
