Software Update: Linux Kernel 2.6.0 Test9

Today on Kernel.org, the ninth test kernel of Linux kernel 2.6.0 has been released. The main changes in this release are support for SATA hardware. If no more major bugs are found in this release, we can expect the first final from the 2.6.0 branch. It changelog has a size of 41KB this time and contains a laundry list of changes. Linus sent out the following comments:

Ok, 2.6.0-test9 is out there in all the normal places..

First off, I have to say that this week has been a lot better than last week. I’ve been cursing at some developers a _lot_ less: while a lot of people wanted to sync up with me after the -test7 “stability freeze” announcements with stuff that wasn’t really about stability, that dropped off a lot this week, and I didn’t have to be rude to people very much at all.

There’s some XFS and cifs updates here, but even they were pretty benign and largely just bug fixes. Oh, and the SATA driver got included, which you either disable or which allows people to use modern hardware.

Anyway, while I’ve been happy with the progress from -test7, I want to see this total stability freeze work even better. The test9 patch is about 120kB compressed – which is small for a week of work, but is still more than I want to see before a stable release.

So guys, let’s work on this even more for test10. I’m going to _totally_ ignore patches that aren’t for major bugs. Don’t send me anything that _others_ wouldn’t consider horribly critical.

In other words, even if you think that something is the most important piece of software in the world, if you can’t make aunt Tilly up the street say “oh, but that would be a show-stopper”, then don’t bother sending it to me.

If it corrupts data, is a security issue, or causes lockups or just basic nonworkingness: and this happens on hardware that _normal_ people are expected to have, then it’s critical. Otherwise, it’s noise and should wait.

If this works out, then I’ll submit -test10 to Andrew Morton, and if he takes it we’ll probably have a real 2.6.0 after a final shakedown. So try to help, please. We’ll all be happier.

Linus [break]the regular mirror server Unfortunately, Trueserver is not yet provided with all files, but Kernel.org is up-to-date:

• Linux 2.6.0 test9 Bzip2 patch
• Linux 2.6.0 test9 Tarball patch