Linux 3.7-rc1: 10K Commits at Robert Pogson

“Of course, despite all the above changes, the bulk of the actual patches are still the usual driver updates, which aren’t even mentioned above. So the "big changes" are actually in reality smaller than the "normal changes we have all the time".

Anyway, the shortlog is much too big as usual for an -rc1 (with over ten thousand commits), but appended is my "short mergelog" that gives at least some high-level view of the merges I did.
Linus”

see LKML: Linus Torvalds: Linux 3.7-rc1.

You know a software-project is on fire when there are even a few hundred tweaks to the code. 10K commits for the release-candidate for Linux 3.7 is amazing. How Linus can herd that much change is beyond me. He handled hundreds per day… I feel really old…

On the bright side, this is a strong indication that the Linux kernel is now, and it has been for years, the world’s kernel. Hardly anything in IT happens without using or tweaking the Linux kernel. Gone are the days when anyone could say with a straight face that this or that hardware does not work with Linux. If it doesn’t work with Linux now people think, “What’s wrong with that manufacturer?”. No one threatens to sue over use of Linux. Everyone’s using it. If something’s not working well with Linux, people tweak Linux or the device or both.

Further, as hard to imagine as it is, Linux keeps getting better, doing more faster and more efficiently. There’s even 64-bit ARM happening. More and better file-systems for every purpose, better ways of doing everything and it still remains rock-solid with all that change going on. Using Linux is the right way to do IT.

I started with a 2.2 kernel many years ago. I was amazed when 2.4 gave huge improvements in performance compared to the already fast 2.2 and then 2.6 was solid and … We used to plod along with the Wintel treadmill for slaves. Now we have the Linux toboggan slide on wet ice with wind in our faces. I have a hard time imagining where this great rate of change will end. Is it possible to continue this indefinitely? Will we not come to a point where all the new hardware has already been invented? With so many choices, is it even possible to optimize a computer-system? All I know is that */Linux works incredibly well anywhere I have tried it and anywhere others have tried it.

I recommend Debian GNU/Linux but I use a more recent Linux kernel…

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.