Subject: From: Date:

Re: Linux version numbers Ingo Pakleppa 25 Sep 2003 22:31:03 -0700

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Excellent answer, Joe.

There is one thing I'd like to correct: the odd vs. even number issue
refers to the SECOND, not the THIRD number. So the 2.0, 2.2, 2.4 and
some time in the not-too-distant future 2.6 series of kernels are
production, the 2.1, 2.3 and 2.5 (and in the future also 2.7) series are
development/experimental.

RH 9 actually uses 2.4.20. You can find out which kernel version you are
actually running with the command "uname -r". To find out which
kernel(s) are installed, use rpm -qa | grep kernel (this will only list
kernels installed by RedHat, though. If you compiled your own, it won't
show up).

RedHat will report 2.4.20-20.9, if you kept up to date with the redhat
service releases.

The 20.9 is some internal numbering scheme that RedHat uses. They took
the stock 2.4.20 kernel, and then made their own modifications to it
(primarily security enhancements, maybe added some drivers, etc. I
really don't know exactly what they did)

The currently latest kernel is 2.4.22. 2.4.23 is in prepatch (basically,
what Microsoft sometimes calls golden code, nearly ready for release).
2.6.0 is also available but only as a test/beta version.

You can always download the very latest kernel from
http://www.kernel.org. Just do remember to read the Kernel HOWTO about
how to install a kernel (it is not all that difficult, but you do need
to at least understand what a compiler and make do; the kernel comes
only as source code).

On Thu, 2003-09-25 at 07:25, ecs-digest-help@netbloc.com wrote:

> Mark
> 
> I don't know about the bug but 2.4.19 is the version of the Linux kernel.  I
> don't know what kernel is in RH9 but you can tell by looking at the logon
> screen that shows up when you reboot.  It should say right there.  What the
> numbers stand for is incremental version numbers.  Kernel version 2.4 was a
> relatively recent kernel upgrade released by Linus Torvalds.  "19" is the
> release number of kernel 2.4.  Odd numbers (i.e. 19,21 etc.) are production
> kernels whereas even numbers are developmental and could contain bugs etc.
> 
> Linux allows you to change kernels without changing distributions.  For
> example, when updated kernels are released, you can easily compile the
> kernel and load it into your distribution without reinstalling anything.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Joe
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Gilmore [mailto:mark@markgilmore.net]
> Sent: September 24, 2003 6:35 AM
> To: ecs@netbloc.com
> Subject: [ecs] Linux bug in aforementioned solution
> 
> 
> This page describes an apparent SO_REUSEADDR bug in Linux "2.4.19":
>          http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0205.2/0643.html
> But what is "2.4.19", as compared to RH9 ?
> And how do I tell if my RH9 is "2.4.19" ?
> Thanks,
> 
> Mark Gilmore
> http://OmnipotenceSoftware.com

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