Included newer kernels in intermediate Debian releases

[Julian Gilbey <J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk>]

[Cc'd to debian-devel for wider discussion]

> >>>>> "jdg" == Julian Gilbey <J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk> writes:
> 
> jdg> Maybe something along the lines of:
> 
> jdg>   The version of the Linux 2.2.x kernel available at the time
> jdg> slink was frozen was 2.2.1; however, various problems have been
> jdg> observed on i386 (Intel-type) machines, which can lead to a
> jdg> serious loss of data.  You are strongly recommended to download
> jdg> patches to fix this problem before running a 2.2 kernel on an
> jdg> i386 machine.
> 
> See the wording at
> <URL:http://www.debian.org/releases/slink/running-kernel-2.2>.  Let me
> know what you think.

Very nicely worded -- well done.

> jdg> And I would recommend putting something in the package
> jdg> description to this effect, doing an NMU to say this.
> 
> I think this would be fine... in fact, I'm not sure why we couldn't
> try to get 2.2.4 or something in place for, say, Debian 2.1r3 or
> whatever.  Maybe you should bring it up yet again on debian-devel?
> Or file a nasty bug against ftp.debian.org?

So here's a general question: should we in general include the latest
available kernel package in any intermediate Debian release in
addition to the versions available in the Debian releases prior to it,
that is:

Debian 2.1r0 contains 2.0.3{4,5,6} and 2.2.1
Debian 2.1r1 contains [        ditto       ] and 2.2.4
Debian 2.1r2 contains [        ditto       ] and 2.2.4 and 2.2.6
Debian 2.1r3 contains [        ditto       ] and 2.2.4, 2.2.6 and 2.2.9

or whatever, the additional ones given priority "extra".  The packages
would also have some warning attached to them about not having been
tested with Debian 2.1, but, like kernel 2.2.1, are provided in order
to assist those individuals who wish to run a bleeding-edge kernel.

I would also imagine that there may be people who would be happy to
use Debian 2.1 rather than unstable since it is known to a great
extent to work consistently together, but still want the latest stable
kernel, because bugs there can be very significant to the system as a
whole.  These people may well appreciate the presence of these extra
kernels on their Debian disks.

Any thoughts?

   Julian

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, QMW, Univ. of London. J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk
             Debian GNU/Linux Developer.  jdg@debian.org
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