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hard candy
08-11-2003, 09:14 AM
I was wondering, is there an accepted schedule of releases for programs/kernels? An example, I downloaded a program release "xfstt-0.9.99". Can the developer extend the ".99" on out indefinetly? And is it accepted practice to go through "1.1 to 1.9" before '2.0'? or can whoever is in charge jump to whatever number they desire?
Also, does the kernel go through each stage 2.4.1 to 2.4.21? Because I noticed on kernel.org's directory the 2.4 went to ".21" then to 2.5. and the 2.2 only went to 2.2.9. Is this Linus Torvald's call as to when to jump?
ph34r
08-11-2003, 09:33 AM
Other projects release schedule and versioning is up to the head developer, but for the Linux kernel, here's the numbering break down:
X.Y.Z
X is the major number - it will change once in a very great while.
Y is the development number. If it is odd, it is a development kernel, if it is even, it is a "stable" kernel.
Z is the patch level - updates and fixes after the X.Y.0 release.
So 2.4.21 is the latest stable kernel (although there is a -pre release of 2.4.22 now...), 2.5.x were all developments, and 2.6.0-test3 is the latest "its almost done" 2.6.0 kernel.
hard candy
08-11-2003, 09:55 AM
So when 2.6.0-beta3 becomes 2.6.0, then 2.4.2x will automatically end at whatever number it is on?
Originally posted by hard candy
So when 2.6.0-beta3 becomes 2.6.0, then 2.4.2x will automatically end at whatever number it is on?
no. they keep patching older kernels for a while.
you can still get 2.2.x kernels.
And for your first question, it really depends on the developers, but they often follow a sort of pattern.
If there's some very major additions, they might skip a few numbers and go from 1.2 or whatever to 2.
If there's a few major additions they'll usually go up by 0.1.
If there's some minor additions they usually go up by 0.01 or add an extra decimal point and go up by 0.0.1.
A good example would be OpenOffice - 1.0.1 to 1.0.3 were mainly bug fixes, but 1.1 adds some major features.
If a developer doesn't think the software is ready for a major release which needs a change from 1.9 to 2, they can go from 1.9 to 1.10 or whatever.