Picked this one from LinuxToday.com
Why Linux 2.4 is Not Delayed
May 5, 2000, 08:19 UTC
By Joe Pranevich
In the media lately, there have been several
articles floating around about how the release of
the Linux 2.4 kernel has been delayed and pushed
back for several months. To be honest, these
reports are not terribly common at this point.
However, I would like to stand in defense of the
Linux kernel development team and attempt to
clear up some of the misunderstandings
surrounding the upcoming release and make it
clear to anyone who'll listen exactly what is
going on and why it's a "good thing."
In nearly every inaccurate story, there is a
central core idea that often bears a remarkable
resemblance to the truth. The recent media
coverage about the delay of Linux 2.4 is no
exception. To be honest, many Linux users and
developers believed that the updated kernel would
be released by now. In fact, an early article I
wrote for Linux Journal Magazine hypothesized an
earlier release of Linux 2.4. I could be
partially to blame for some of the
misinformation. Early discussions on the
development process of the Linux 2.4 kernel
revolved around a "rapid release" cycle that
would, in theory, bring an updated Linux kernel
to the masses more quickly than the conventional
model that was used during the Linux 2.2
development process. A "rapid release" process
(not to be confused with the Open Source motto:
"release early, release often") would involve
putting out a Linux 2.4 kernel with relatively
few changes (most notably the Wake One changes to
improve web server performance) within several
months after the start of the development
process. While this development model was
discussed, Linus and the core team of developers
did not make any claims that this would be the
model that they would actually follow. In the
end, the old model (which allowed for a greater
depth of changes quicker in the long run) was the
one actually used by the development team.
The traditional world of commercial software
loves release dates and release announcements.
Often, products are announced months
(occasionally, years) before they are actually
released with dates and feature lists that are
occasionally wholly inaccurate. Open Source
projects, as a general rule, don't make these
kinds of announcements. When Linux 2.4
development was started, no one was handing out a
list of things that would be added, that would
all be determined later. Some have said that this
constitutes a lack of direction, still others see
it as a sign that Linux responds to the needs of
the community rather than a project manager. The
"Wonderful World of Linux 2.4" document that I
maintain (an unofficial list of the changes in
new kernel releases) does tell you all about what
the future, unreleased, kernel includes. But
unlike pre-release announcements of commercial
software, Linux 2.3 actually already contains all
of the changes that I discuss. All of them. (And
since Linux is an Open Source project, you are
completely free to download this kernel--
recommended for developers only-- and try out
these new features for yourself.) Unfortunately,
many people are accustomed to looking for release
announcements and release plans for the software
that they are interested in. This tendency has
led to some confusion as internal discussions
have been misinterpreted in some cases as gospel.
Again, unlike commercial software, Linux is
developed in a completely open manner. Anyone and
everyone can subscribe to the master developers
mailing list or one of the several more
project-specific lists that abound. However, the
posts that appear on these lists are no more
official or set in stone than what you might hear
during a conversation around a water-cooler at a
more traditional place of employment. It's sort
of amazing, in a way, to watch the developers
(who know a lot more than I do, believe me)
discuss the internals of interrupt handling or
how best to design an ethernet driver to work
with buggy cards. But just because something is
uttered by a developer on the mailing list
doesn't mean it constitutes an official word from
the development team or even an idea that won't
be thrown out a week later because it proved
impractical. And even posts from Linus, Alan,
David, or another so-called "lieutenant" should
be considered in the same light as a conversation
between peers working on a common problem, rather
than something to be analyzed word for word. (Or
do you think we're actually serious about World
Domination, too?)
The bottom line is that every Open Source project
that ever announced dates or feature sets have
tended to be wrong. Commercial software seems to
be bitten by the same bug. Release dates and
feature lists are often born in the marketing
department where the laws of reality are not the
same as in normal space. Things that seem easy to
implement are often complex. Things that seem
useful often prove to be useless in the field.
Because Linux is developed by programmers without
pressure from marketing folks or a bottom-line,
it is less prone to being rushed just to get it
out the door. Linux 2.4 will be released when it
is completed and not a day sooner. Or would you
rather have a Linux kernel with almost as many
bugs as its commercial counterparts?
(For a nearly complete list of the features
coming up in Linux 2.4, please consult my
"Wonderful World of Linux 2.4" document at
http://linuxtoday.com/story.php3?sn=19955 Please
feel free to reproduce this document or tell your
friends.)
Related Stories:
InfoWorld: Linux kernel upgrade faces more delays
(May 04, 2000)
CNET News.com: Linux kernel release falls behind
schedule (May 03, 2000)
ZDNet News: Late and slowed by feature creep,
it's ... Linux? (May 03, 2000)
Alan Cox: Linux Jobs as of 2.3.99pre6-5 (Apr 25,
2000)
UPDATED: Wonderful World of Linux 2.4 - Final
Candidate #3 - 4/10/00 (aka the "Sleeping in the
Flowers" Update) (Apr 11, 2000)
Return to today's headlines.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments from readers:
Roman Fietze - Subject: Take your time
(2000-05-05 08:12:41)
There is already enough pressure on all the Free
and Open software projects by people trying to
make money with it (with or without knowing what
the whole stuff is at all), so don't let the
major parts of the whole philosophy get under
pressure as well. If the kernel will take another
six months to get as good as the other one's have
been, so what, the important thing is that the SW
is good and the people writing it still have fun
writing it.
Roman
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