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On Sat, Nov 12, 2022 at 2:13 PM Wol <antlists@××××××××××××.uk> wrote: |
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> |
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> The idea behind stable kernels is great. The implementation leaves a lot |
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> to be desired and, as always, the reason is not enough manpower. |
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> |
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Two things: first, LTS kernels aren't the same as stable kernels. |
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Dale has been running stable kernels, and gentoo-sources kernels are |
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all stable kernels. |
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Second, I've been running LTS kernels for years without issue. I got |
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into them due to running zfs/btrfs/nvidia. ZFS and nvidia are out of |
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tree modules, and they tend to lag in support for the latest stable |
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branches, so it is a constant battle if you want to run stable. If |
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you run LTS they just work. When I was running btrfs I wanted to |
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stick to LTS mainly because btrfs was constantly breaking things in |
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new releases, which like every other subsystem are introduced in new |
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branches. That was a while ago and maybe btrfs is more stable today. |
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If you run anything out of tree though LTS is a much easier target. |
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Aside from that, new kernel options are almost never added within LTS |
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branch releases, so I just run make oldconfig and I'm done. You do |
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get the rare change, and it is very easy to manage those. |
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The downside is if you want some new kernel feature you won't get it, |
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and you might need to update for support for new chipsets/CPUs if |
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you're upgrading. That isn't a big deal to manage as I don't do it |
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often. |
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I can't remember the last time an LTS kernel blew up on me, but I |
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never rush out to update a kernel the day it is released. |
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Occassionally I do see a regression fixed and it tends to happen |
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fairly quickly. |
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All that said, it would be nice if the kernel had more of a QA |
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process. I think the kernel has basically deferred all of that to |
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distros, which means by running an upstream kernel I get none of it. |
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The upstream kernel config defaults are also less than ideal, which is |
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something distros also manage. |
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-- |
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Rich |