Re: "Kernel surfers"

On 2024-03-18, vallor <vallor@cultnix.org> wrote:

Do you track the current kernel on https://kernel.org ?
>
If so, how often do you update?
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I ask because seems like day-before-yesterday that I updated
to 6.8.0 -- but already, current version is 6.8.1.
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Just grabbed the patch for 6.8.1, and it appears to add a mitigation
for a vulnerability that I'm not likely to trigger, so I guess
I'll skip that one.
>
(Note that I download and build the kernel on my own, unlike
Gentoo distro lackey Furled Fleb.)
>

I manually build my own kernel, firstly because I wanted to wring
every bit of performance back in the early 2000s, when it did matter,
a little, and later to use Con Kolivas's patch, and to "fix" the
emu10k driver.  Con's patch is no longer available, so there isn't
much point in compiling my own kernel, but I still do.

I check every month or two, and if there is a major release AND there
is a change which interests me (usually in filesystems), I'll update.
Otherwise I'll just leave it be.