Linux 3.12 Released, Linus Proposes Bug Fix-Only 4.0 274
An anonymous reader writes "Linus Torvalds announced the Linux 3.12 kernel release with a large number of improvements through many subsystems including new EXT4 file-system features, AMD Berlin APU support, a major CPUfreq governor improvement yielding impressive performance boosts for certain hardware/workloads, new drivers, and continued bug-fixing. Linus also took the opportunity to share possible plans for Linux 4.0. He's thinking of tagging Linux 4.0 following the Linux 3.19 release in about one year and is also considering the idea of Linux 4.0 being a release cycle with nothing but bug-fixes. Does Linux really need an entire two-month release cycle with nothing but bug-fixing? It's still to be decided by the kernel developers."
Re:yes please (Score:5, Funny)
We could even have two branches, one with an even minor number for bugfixes and one with an odd minor number for new features.
There is balls-to-the-wall competition right now! (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know how you can honestly say that there's "nothing huge waiting in the wings that everyone needs next week." You must not understand the current operating system market.
THERE IS BALLS TO THE WALL COMPETITION RIGHT NOW!
The moment the Linux community rests on its laurels, even if just to fix some "bugs" that don't even exist, the competition from Windows and OS X will intensify to an extent that we haven't seen in ages.
Look, Windows 8.1 was just released, and it's a game-changer. It makes the Windows 8 stream a viable option for businesses and home users alike. Windows 8.0 was like Vista was; Windows 8.1 is like Windows 7. Windows 8.0 tried some things out, and some of those were mistakes. Windows 8.1 remedies these, and the result is a powerful, usable operating system.
OS X 10.9 Mavericks was just released recently, too. It took what was perhaps the most popular and widely used Unix-like system and made it even more efficient and powerful.
Then there's Linux. There are major changes underway as we speak. The Ubuntu and GNOME 3 communities, which were once among the largest and most appreciated, shat upon the faces of their users, causing them to seek refuge in other distributions and desktop environments. Now we have Wayland on the way, and it's going to bring so much disruption that there may in fact be a civil war of sorts within the Linux community. X is not going to die easily! And then there's LLVM and Clang, which are kicking the living shit out of GCC. In fact, this is a revolution that we haven't seen the likes of in years.
With so much turmoil in the userland software, it's now up to the kernel to pick up the slack. We're going to need to see the kernel team at least double their efforts to make up for the stupidity of the GNOME crew, for example. We're going to need to see a kernel that offers greater power efficiency on modern systems. We need to see a kernel that'll offer even better process and thread scheduling. We'll need to see a kernel that can scale from the smallest cell phones to the largest clusters. We need to see the completion of Btrfs.
Never forget that when it comes to operating systems, the BALLS ARE TO THE WALL!. This is more true today than ever before. The competition is fierce, and prisoners will not be taken. When there is BALLS TO THE WALL competition, everybody involved needs to bring their best. This includes the Linux kernel developers. They need to be the best they've ever been. This is no ordinary situation; this is a BALLS TO THE WALL situation. And don't you ever forget that!
Re:There is balls-to-the-wall competition right no (Score:5, Funny)
You are Steve Ballmer, and I claim my five pounds.
Most important question (Score:2, Funny)
Re:My how things change (Score:5, Funny)
The Linux Colonel stayed in the 2.x numbers for many years. I even remember a post by Linux Torvalds on the mailing list saying that there would never ever be a version 3.0. At the time I thought that was pretty weird. I mean, things are going to get a little strange when you get to version 2.99.99.99.99.99.
So,obviously he changed his mind and not only went to 3.0 but apparently he is bored with 3.x and wants to jump from 3.19 directly to 4.0.
Maybe he's jealous of Firefox and Chrome and is trying to catch up to them.
Maybe it indicates a promotion to general.
Re:There are quite a few things I'd like to see fi (Score:2, Funny)
I hope that they fix the kernel bug that obviously stripped all of the paragraphs out of your comment. It was a kernel bug that did it, right?
Re:Take some lessons from Intel (Score:5, Funny)
Seeing as how Linus is new to this whole Linux kernel thing, I'm sure he appreciates the input of someone so knowleadgeable in kernel development.
Re:yes please (Score:5, Funny)
Why the hell does that sound familiar...
Re:My how things change (Score:4, Funny)
You mean General Failure. The same guy who reads your drive A. I hate that guy.
Re:Don't confuse iOS (hipster) with OSX (UNIX) (Score:5, Funny)
It's a disgrace. I also can't believe that Microsoft still haven't given us a way to at copy and paste error messages from dialog boxes when they do bother to produce an error message.
My favorite is something along the lines of "An error occurred, please contact your system administrator" and I'm left thinking "ok, I am my system administrator and I have *no clue* what the error is".