kernel versioning

[Alma J Wetzker]

M.W. Chang wrote:
>> major# . minor# . release#
>> Major numbers change when there's enough of a change to the kernel to
>> warrant it.  The change from a.out to elf warranted a move major number
>> 1 to major number 2.
>> The minor number tells you if the release is stable or unstable
>> (development).  Even numbers (0 is even for our purposes) denote stable,
>> odd numbers denote unstable.
>> Release numbers are, well, release numbers.
>> That help?
> 
> 
> from www.kernel.org:
> 
> The latest stable version of the Linux kernel is:      2.6.3
> The latest 2.4 version of the Linux kernel is:      2.4.25
> 
> Why is there a differnce in the 2 setences?
> It used "latest stable" rather than "latest 2.6"?
> Are they the same?

Not the same.  The latest version of the kernel that is stable is 2.6.3.  If 
you want the newest version of linux, that is what you want.  If you only want 
to stick with an old kernel, 2.4.25 is what you want.  (Presumably, if you 
want older than that you are keeping up in some other way.)  It seems that 
linux offers a choice.

     -- Alma