Emperor Penguin promised a relaxed seasonal development cycle and has delivered:
Work on version 6.2 of the Linux kernel will stretch into an eighth release candidate, despite emperor penguin Linus Torvalds now saying it isn't really necessary.
In late January, Torvalds rated release candidate five as "fairly sizable" due to "pent up testing and fixes from people being off."
He therefore flagged his intention to extend this kernel development cycle beyond his preferred seven release candidates.
Release candidate six then landed in what Torvalds described as "suspiciously small" stature, followed by release candidate seven that he labelled "fairly small and controlled, to the point where normally I'd just say that this is the last rc.
"But since I've stated multiple times that I'll do an rc8 due to the holiday start of the release, that's what I'll do."
And indeed he did. On February 12 he announced rc8 and declared: "the only real reason for an rc8 is – as now mentioned several times – just to make up for some time during the holiday season. Not that we seem to really have needed it, but there was also no real reason to deviate from the plan."
Torvalds expects "a few late regression fixes" that will come in handy, but doesn't feel the slightly longer-than-usual development process will prove harmful.
All of which means penguinistas need to wait until next week for additions such as improved performance on many-core IBM POWER servers, persistent memory support for RISC-V, and more enabling code for Intel's "On Demand" software-defined silicon plan.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Tuesday February 14, @11:17AM (4 children)
There was a time where they would have called "Intel's "On Demand" software-defined silicon plan" ""Intel's "On Demand" pay-twice hardware crippling mechanism".
Also, Linus hardly is an "Emperor Penguin" anymore.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 14, @03:43PM (3 children)
Oh, I'd say Linus is more the "modern Emperor" than ever. Modern as in: less than all powerful, but still the most widely recognizable figurehead and widely respected when he speaks.
I'd also say that this RC8 delay reflects a certain maturity, one that Microsoft perhaps has yet to approach, wherein the existing product is good enough that we can take extra time to get the new revision out in even better condition than perhaps we need.
Transparency for the win. As opposed to monthly behind closed doors development of whack-a-mole hot fixes for a mostly undisclosed problem list.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by Rich on Tuesday February 14, @05:51PM (2 children)
True. I had the "old" Emperor Linus in mind that could have a few heads chopped off with a decree. :)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 14, @06:25PM
Yeah, I've been watching World War I documentaries about the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Franz-Joseph was pretty mellow by the 1900s, and Karl was beatified in 2004.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 14, @06:37PM
Being decaffeinated with a guillotine would result in mini tiers and crying.
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...