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hß · SecurityCurated

Linux kernel 2.4.19 released

Summary

In August 2002 Marcelo Tosatti released Linux kernel 2.4.19, with better support for 64-bit processors such as Intel’s IA64, USB 2.0 and PCI hotplug. Above all, the version fixed bugs and improved drivers; Alan Cox published the variant 2.4.19-ac1 at the same time. Meanwhile the older 2.2 series and Linus Torvalds’ 2.5 development branch continued.

Ideas

  • The kernel’s stable and development branches were looked after by different people.
  • Alongside the official kernel, well-known developers maintained their own patch sets.
  • Three kernel series ran at the same time: 2.2, 2.4 and 2.5.

Insights

  • Separate responsibilities for stable and experimental branches spread the maintenance load.
  • Parallel patch sets show how decentralised kernel development was organised at the time.

Facts

  • Marcelo Tosatti was responsible for the 2.4 series, Linus Torvalds for 2.5.

References

Critique

  • The report refers to the changelog but names no security-relevant fixes that would make an update urgent.

Remarks

  • Linux 2.6 emerged from the 2.5 branch at the end of 2003; since 2.6 there have been no separate odd-numbered development series.

Recommendations

  • In production, rely on your distribution’s stable kernel and not on development branches.
  • Read changelogs specifically for driver and security fixes for your hardware.

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