Messages in this thread |  | | Subject | Re: Reply | Date | Fri, 02 Aug 1996 09:50:11 -0600 | From | Warner Losh <> |
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: People make mistakes, even in FreeBSD. But in Linux, they get corrected NOW,
They get corrected in FreeBSD (and NetBSD and OpenBSD) in the same timely manner, to imply otherwise would be disengenuous. In fact, the development model in these three variants of BSD, although slightly different in each, propigates changes to the sources generally within a few hours of when they are checked into the development tree. FreeBSD has had two branches (although one has reached the end of its usefulness) for a long time and the stable one generally compiles and works well (which is why they call it -stable). Just like a couple of Linux's 2.0.x releases, there have been times when it too doesn't compile or work 100%. It is the nature of the beast. The FreeBSD (and NetBSD and OpenBSD) approach has been to have open communications and fast distribution of current sources in a method they find that works for them (a central CVS hub and a couple of mailing lists). While NetBSD and OpenBSD differ in the details, the same comments apply to them as well. All the sources to the system are housed in one (sometimes mirrored) location for each of the BSDs.
Linus and the Linux community use a different method that works for them (Linus makes the releases and communication happens as needed in mailing lists). In that model, you can get the release within seconds or minutes (if you have a fast link and vger isn't bogged down) to patches that posted here. Linus has been known to make multiple releases in a day as soon as problems are discovered, which can sometimes be faster than the other model, sometimes slower depending on the situation. It is a system that works for him and his developer and user communities. Other people have other pieces of the system that are done in a similar fashion. Keeping up with these people and what is needed for what release is part of the Linux system, and seems to generally work.
If you are wanting to track revs of the kernel, rather than get them as part of a full system from a cdrom vendor, you should likely chose the style that you happen to favor that supports your hardware in an acceptible manner and run with that.
Personally, I track them all due to the mix of machines that I have on site here that are running or nearly running some variation of each of these systems.
Warner
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