On 30 Oct 2001, Thomas Hood wrote:
> Linus has waited long enough to open up 2.5 that both he
> and Alan are failing to resist the temptation to make
> destabilizing changes in 2.4, with the result that
> the day of branching is perpetually postponed.
>
> What we have learned from the present experience is that
> no kernel branch is really stable until it is entirely in
> Alan Cox's hands. Prior to that time, both Linus and Alan
> are in "let's play with this" mode. This has some benefits.
> I think it's safe to say, though, that having two semi-stable
> branches is inferior to having one stable branch that we
> can rely on and one development branch that we can work on.
>
> Perhaps a better approach in the future would be for Linus
> to turn the kernel over to Alan as of 2.6.0 and to open 2.7.0
> immediately. That would be an incentive for Linus to refrain
> from calling unstable kernels "stable" ones, and would allow
> Alan to maintain 2.6 with the single aim of increasing
> stability, according to one person's idea of what it takes
> to do that. Alan's "-ac" kernels would take the place of
> Linus's "pre" kernels. Linus would no longer produce "pre"
> kernels because he's worse than Alan at maintaining a stable
> kernel (as he admits) and anyway he would be busy with 2.7.
>
> Having suggested, this, I'll remind everyone that Linus
> and Alan can do whatever the hell the like. Which is
> what I like about Linux.
>
> --
> Thomas Hood
>
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