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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/development-process/2.Process')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/development-process/2.Process | 177 |
1 files changed, 88 insertions, 89 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/development-process/2.Process b/Documentation/development-process/2.Process index 911a45186340..4823577c6509 100644 --- a/Documentation/development-process/2.Process +++ b/Documentation/development-process/2.Process @@ -14,16 +14,15 @@ 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: - 2.6.26 July 13, 2008 - 2.6.25 April 16, 2008 - 2.6.24 January 24, 2008 - 2.6.23 October 9, 2007 - 2.6.22 July 8, 2007 - 2.6.21 April 25, 2007 - 2.6.20 February 4, 2007 + 2.6.38 March 14, 2011 + 2.6.37 January 4, 2011 + 2.6.36 October 20, 2010 + 2.6.35 August 1, 2010 + 2.6.34 May 15, 2010 + 2.6.33 February 24, 2010 Every 2.6.x release is a major kernel release with new features, internal -API changes, and more. A typical 2.6 release can contain over 10,000 +API changes, and more. A typical 2.6 release can contain nearly 10,000 changesets with changes to several hundred thousand lines of code. 2.6 is thus the leading edge of Linux kernel development; the kernel uses a rolling development model which is continually integrating major changes. @@ -42,13 +41,13 @@ merge window do not come out of thin air; they have been collected, tested, and staged ahead of time. How that process works will be described in detail later on). -The merge window lasts for 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 2.6.26, for -example, the release which happens at the end of the merge window will be -called 2.6.26-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. +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 2.6.40, +for example, the release which happens at the end of the merge window will +be called 2.6.40-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. Over the next six to ten weeks, only patches which fix problems should be submitted to the mainline. On occasion a more significant change will be @@ -66,20 +65,19 @@ will get up to somewhere between -rc6 and -rc9 before the kernel is considered to be sufficiently stable and the final 2.6.x release is made. At that point the whole process starts over again. -As an example, here is how the 2.6.25 development cycle went (all dates in -2008): - - January 24 2.6.24 stable release - February 10 2.6.25-rc1, merge window closes - February 15 2.6.25-rc2 - February 24 2.6.25-rc3 - March 4 2.6.25-rc4 - March 9 2.6.25-rc5 - March 16 2.6.25-rc6 - March 25 2.6.25-rc7 - April 1 2.6.25-rc8 - April 11 2.6.25-rc9 - April 16 2.6.25 stable release +As an example, here is how the 2.6.38 development cycle went (all dates in +2011): + + January 4 2.6.37 stable release + January 18 2.6.38-rc1, merge window closes + January 21 2.6.38-rc2 + February 1 2.6.38-rc3 + February 7 2.6.38-rc4 + February 15 2.6.38-rc5 + February 21 2.6.38-rc6 + March 1 2.6.38-rc7 + March 7 2.6.38-rc8 + March 14 2.6.38 stable release How do the developers decide when to close the development cycle and create the stable release? The most significant metric used is the list of @@ -87,7 +85,7 @@ regressions from previous releases. No bugs are welcome, but those which break systems which worked in the past are considered to be especially serious. For this reason, patches which cause regressions are looked upon unfavorably and are quite likely to be reverted during the stabilization -period. +period. The developers' goal is to fix all known regressions before the stable release is made. In the real world, this kind of perfection is hard to @@ -99,26 +97,34 @@ 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 comprised of Greg Kroah-Hartman and Chris Wright. -The stable team will release occasional updates to the stable release using -the 2.6.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. Continuing our 2.6.25 example, -the history (as of this writing) is: - - May 1 2.6.25.1 - May 6 2.6.25.2 - May 9 2.6.25.3 - May 15 2.6.25.4 - June 7 2.6.25.5 - June 9 2.6.25.6 - June 16 2.6.25.7 - June 21 2.6.25.8 - June 24 2.6.25.9 - -Stable updates for a given kernel are made for approximately six months; -after that, the maintenance of stable releases is solely the responsibility -of the distributors which have shipped that particular kernel. +"stable team," currently consisting of Greg Kroah-Hartman. The stable team +will release occasional updates to the stable release using the 2.6.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 than one development cycle past their initial release. So, +for example, the 2.6.36 kernel's history looked like: + + October 10 2.6.36 stable release + November 22 2.6.36.1 + December 9 2.6.36.2 + January 7 2.6.36.3 + February 17 2.6.36.4 + +2.6.36.4 was the final stable update for the 2.6.36 release. + +Some kernels are designated "long term" kernels; they will receive support +for a longer period. As of this writing, the current long term kernels +and their maintainers are: + + 2.6.27 Willy Tarreau (Deep-frozen stable kernel) + 2.6.32 Greg Kroah-Hartman + 2.6.35 Andi Kleen (Embedded flag kernel) + +The selection of a kernel for long-term support is purely a matter of a +maintainer having the need and the time to maintain that release. There +are no known plans for long-term support for any specific upcoming +release. 2.2: THE LIFECYCLE OF A PATCH @@ -130,7 +136,7 @@ each patch implements a change which is desirable to have in the mainline. This process can happen quickly for minor fixes, or, in the case of large and controversial changes, go on for years. Much developer frustration comes from a lack of understanding of this process or from attempts to -circumvent it. +circumvent it. In the hopes of reducing that frustration, this document will describe how a patch gets into the kernel. What follows below is an introduction which @@ -193,8 +199,8 @@ involved. 2.3: HOW PATCHES GET INTO THE KERNEL There is exactly one person who can merge patches into the mainline kernel -repository: Linus Torvalds. But, of the over 12,000 patches which went -into the 2.6.25 kernel, only 250 (around 2%) were directly chosen by Linus +repository: Linus Torvalds. But, of the over 9,500 patches which went +into the 2.6.38 kernel, only 112 (around 1.3%) were directly chosen by Linus himself. The kernel project has long since grown to a size where no single developer could possibly inspect and select every patch unassisted. The way the kernel developers have addressed this growth is through the use of @@ -229,7 +235,7 @@ first in trees dedicated to network device drivers, wireless networking, etc. This chain of repositories can be arbitrarily long, though it rarely exceeds two or three links. Since each maintainer in the chain trusts those managing lower-level trees, this process is known as the "chain of -trust." +trust." Clearly, in a system like this, getting patches into the kernel depends on finding the right maintainer. Sending patches directly to Linus is not @@ -254,7 +260,7 @@ The answer comes in the form of -next trees, where subsystem trees are collected for testing and review. The older of these trees, maintained by Andrew Morton, is called "-mm" (for memory management, which is how it got started). The -mm tree integrates patches from a long list of subsystem -trees; it also has some patches aimed at helping with debugging. +trees; it also has some patches aimed at helping with debugging. Beyond that, -mm contains a significant collection of patches which have been selected by Andrew directly. These patches may have been posted on a @@ -264,8 +270,8 @@ subsystem tree of last resort; if there is no other obvious path for a patch into the mainline, it is likely to end up in -mm. Miscellaneous patches which accumulate in -mm will eventually either be forwarded on to an appropriate subsystem tree or be sent directly to Linus. In a typical -development cycle, approximately 10% of the patches going into the mainline -get there via -mm. +development cycle, approximately 5-10% of the patches going into the +mainline get there via -mm. The current -mm patch is available in the "mmotm" (-mm of the moment) directory at: @@ -275,7 +281,7 @@ directory at: Use of the MMOTM tree is likely to be a frustrating experience, though; there is a definite chance that it will not even compile. -The other -next tree, started more recently, is linux-next, maintained by +The primary tree for next-cycle patch merging is linux-next, maintained by Stephen Rothwell. The linux-next tree is, by design, a snapshot of what the mainline is expected to look like after the next merge window closes. Linux-next trees are announced on the linux-kernel and linux-next mailing @@ -287,25 +293,14 @@ Some information about linux-next has been gathered at: http://linux.f-seidel.de/linux-next/pmwiki/ -How the linux-next tree will fit into the development process is still -changing. As of this writing, the first full development cycle involving -linux-next (2.6.26) is coming to an end; thus far, it has proved to be a -valuable resource for finding and fixing integration problems before the -beginning of the merge window. See http://lwn.net/Articles/287155/ for -more information on how linux-next has worked to set up the 2.6.27 merge -window. - -Some developers have begun to suggest that linux-next should be used as the -target for future development as well. The linux-next tree does tend to be -far ahead of the mainline and is more representative of the tree into which -any new work will be merged. The downside to this idea is that the -volatility of linux-next tends to make it a difficult development target. -See http://lwn.net/Articles/289013/ for more information on this topic, and -stay tuned; much is still in flux where linux-next is involved. +Linux-next has become an integral part of the kernel development process; +all patches merged during a given merge window should really have found +their way into linux-next some time before the merge window opens. + 2.4.1: STAGING TREES -The kernel source tree now contains the drivers/staging/ directory, where +The kernel source tree contains the drivers/staging/ directory, where many sub-directories for drivers or filesystems that are on their way to being added to the kernel tree live. They remain in drivers/staging while they still need more work; once complete, they can be moved into the @@ -313,15 +308,23 @@ kernel proper. This is a way to keep track of drivers that aren't up to Linux kernel coding or quality standards, but people may want to use them and track development. -Greg Kroah-Hartman currently (as of 2.6.36) maintains the staging tree. -Drivers that still need work are sent to him, with each driver having -its own subdirectory in drivers/staging/. Along with the driver source -files, a TODO file should be present in the directory as well. The TODO -file lists the pending work that the driver needs for acceptance into -the kernel proper, as well as a list of people that should be Cc'd for any -patches to the driver. Staging drivers that don't currently build should -have their config entries depend upon CONFIG_BROKEN. Once they can -be successfully built without outside patches, CONFIG_BROKEN can be removed. +Greg Kroah-Hartman currently maintains the staging tree. Drivers that +still need work are sent to him, with each driver having its own +subdirectory in drivers/staging/. Along with the driver source files, a +TODO file should be present in the directory as well. The TODO file lists +the pending work that the driver needs for acceptance into the kernel +proper, as well as a list of people that should be Cc'd for any patches to +the driver. Current rules require that drivers contributed to staging +must, at a minimum, compile properly. + +Staging can be a relatively easy way to get new drivers into the mainline +where, with luck, they will come to the attention of other developers and +improve quickly. Entry into staging is not the end of the story, though; +code in staging which is not seeing regular progress will eventually be +removed. Distributors also tend to be relatively reluctant to enable +staging drivers. So staging is, at best, a stop on the way toward becoming +a proper mainline driver. + 2.5: TOOLS @@ -347,11 +350,7 @@ page at: http://git-scm.com/ -That page has pointers to documentation and tutorials. One should be -aware, in particular, of the Kernel Hacker's Guide to git, which has -information specific to kernel development: - - http://linux.yyz.us/git-howto.html +That page has pointers to documentation and tutorials. Among the kernel developers who do not use git, the most popular choice is almost certainly Mercurial: @@ -408,7 +407,7 @@ There are a few hints which can help with linux-kernel survival: important to filter on both the topic of interest (though note that long-running conversations can drift away from the original subject without changing the email subject line) and the people who are - participating. + participating. - Do not feed the trolls. If somebody is trying to stir up an angry response, ignore them. |