The announcement: https://lkml.org/lkml/2015/4/12/178
Gotta love Linus, he always makes great ML posts.
Linux 4.0
31–40 of 85 posts
Re: Linux 4.0
#324.0? Why would anyone use an OS that's six versions behind Windows?
I wouldn't be surprised if Linus pushes for 5.0 after 4.9 this time. And then maybe after that you realize the major version number is meaningless when you will never break backwards compatibility (like with web browsers) and drop it entirely. So maybe Linux 30 by 2020?
He can't drop the decimal easily, as there are apparently too many scripts that expect the kernel version to have a decimal in it. But I think 4.9 -> 5.0 is a decent workaround to the problem.
Re: Linux 4.0
#33I don't understand the joke in calling it that. It just seems petty. Is there something I'm missing?
The linux kernel names are not meant for marketing; they're in-house only.
Re: Linux 4.0
#34Windows Threshold OSX Yosemite Linux "Hurr durr I'ma sheep" ----- In some ways it's comforting that such an intergral part of all of our lives doesn't have to be branded and packaged in a way that's stylistic. It's nice knowing that this truly is a community project, and that it's an effort of people - not some megacorp who needs to market it to the highest amount of people possible. Great work everyone who worked on…
Well, the bulk of it de facto comes from corporate contributors: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/infographics/who-w... (the Linux Foundation itself being a corporate consortium). Not that such a thing isn't practically inevitable for a project the scale of the Linux kernel.
Correction: The Linux Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit consortium.
Re: Linux 4.0
#35Notable features from Linux Weather Forecast by Jonathan Corbet:
- Basic support for applying patches to a running kernel, allowing the application of fixes without the need to reboot the system. There is still work to be done to get to a fully featured live-patching system, but the foundation is there in 4.0.
- The remap_file_pages() system call has been removed. Emulation of its functionality remains, though, so applications should not break.
- The kernel's support for large nonvolatile memory devices has improved considerably.
- The lazytime mount option allows for more efficient and accurate tracking of file access times.
- The kernel address sanitizer (KASan) is an important new development tool for ensuring that the kernel is not accessing memory that it shouldn't.
Re: Linux 4.0
#36I don't understand the joke in calling it that. It just seems petty. Is there something I'm missing?
Why petty? Against what/whom?
Great. Now I'm confused...
Re: Linux 4.0
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the bulk of it de facto comes from corporate contributors: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/infographics/who-w... (the Linux Foundation itself being a corporate consortium). Not that such a thing isn't practically inevitable for a project the scale of the Linux kernel.
Correction: The Linux Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit consortium.
True. My expression was unwieldy, I meant that its board members were largely representatives of corporate entities (about 185 of them, ostensibly).
Re: Linux 4.0
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't forget the distro version names! Ubuntu 14.10 'Utopic Unicorn', Debian 'jessie' (the Yodeling Cowgirl)...
Fedora 17: Beefy Miracle always leaves a warm feeling in my heart.
Fedora recently ditched naming the versions themselves the community can name if it they wish. https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/advisory-board/201...
Re: Linux 4.0
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be surprised if Linus pushes for 5.0 after 4.9 this time. And then maybe after that you realize the major version number is meaningless when you will never break backwards compatibility (like with web browsers) and drop it entirely. So maybe Linux 30 by 2020?
He can't drop the decimal easily, as there are apparently too many scripts that expect the kernel version to have a decimal in it. But I think 4.9 -> 5.0 is a decent workaround to the problem.
That's funny, because the reason why Microsoft decided to skip from Windows 8 to Windows 10 is because there's too much software out there that tests that the version of Windows starts with "9" and interprets this as they are currently running Windows 95 or 98.
Some things never change.
Re: Linux 4.0
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
He can't drop the decimal easily, as there are apparently too many scripts that expect the kernel version to have a decimal in it. But I think 4.9 -> 5.0 is a decent workaround to the problem.
That's funny, because the reason why Microsoft decided to skip from Windows 8 to Windows 10 is because there's too much software out there that tests that the version of Windows starts with "9" and interprets this as they are currently running Windows 95 or 98. Some things never change.
Highly improbable to be the case. Microsoft damaged XP compatibility with Vista; that they would care about software built for 95-98 in 2015 seems unlikely by comparison. It's also just a product name. Programmers will check the kernel version, not the "friendly" consumer-facing string.
I realize this information has been circulated around, but unless this has been confirmed by Microsoft please don't claim facts without evidence.