Robert Brockway wrote:
On Wed, 2 Mar 2005, John Hasler wrote:Rob Brenart (TT) writes:Then the specific question is, when can I expect kernel-source-2.6.11 in Sid? I'm having a handful of problems with 2.6.10, and wondering if it's worth patching or going back a version...Just get the kernel.org source and use it. It's usually better to go back than forward, though, unless you know for sure that the new version solves your problem.It has been disclosed on LKML that the vanilla 2.6 kernels are shipping with known exploits. This is not the case with 2.4. I first saw this claim on a Debian list and went back and looked at the LKML archives and sure enough Alan Cox made such a statement on list, so unlike 2.4 vanilla 2.6 kernels may not be safe to use.
I believe this to be a bit of an over statement. Perhaps "know issues" is a better choice of words. Alan is also one of many kernel developers and although he is entitled to his opinion, he doesn't speak for everyone. You're also naive if you believe your distro solves every issue related to the kernel. The 2.4 kernel has been around much longer and hence stabilized into a more mature body of code. The 2.6 development cycle has also had a major revamping ala Andrew's involvement. I believe this new development cycle has caused many of these misleading statements. If you use the mm tree then you are asking for trouble. It is a know development tree. With Linus's tree you are in pretty good shape however there are ac, ck, and various other trees you can build from if you favor any one hackers opinion. Bottom line... if you are using a box in a production environment and you don't have the staff to remain active on the kernel mailing list, trouble shoot kernel related issues, and/or test/fix serious issues then you should probably rely on distribution kernels. If, however, you are a desktop user who enjoys tinkering with things then I encourage you to use upstream sources. If you find issues then report these bugs so that they get fixed. There is a definite need for testers so don't shy away from upstream sources because of some rumor you heard some individual claim. -Eric -- "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
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