The new Linux kernel is here, and it boasts built-in virtualization. (Linux-Watch)In a message titled, "Super Kernel Sunday!" to the LKML (Linux Kernel Mailing List), Linus Torvalds announced news far more important than the Colts beating the Bears--to serious Linux users, anyway. The newest stable version of the Linux kernel, version 2.6.20, has been released.
Torvalds, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, went on: "Before downloading the actual new kernel, most avid kernel hackers have been involved in a 2-hour pre-kernel-compilation count-down, with some even spending the preceding week doing typing exercises and reciting PI to a thousand decimal places."
And, Torvalds added, "As ICD head analyst Walter Dickweed put it: 'Releasing a new kernel on Superbowl Sunday means that the important "pasty white nerd" constituency finally has something to do while the rest of the country sits comatose in front of their [65-inch] plasma screens.'"
After some more fun, Torvalds moved on to business. "I tried rather hard to make 2.6.20 largely a 'stabilization release.' Unlike a lot of kernels lately, there aren't really any big fundamental changes to some core infrastructure area, and while we always have bugs, I really am hoping that we fixed many more than we introduced," wrote Torvalds.
Read the full story on Linux-Watch: Super Kernel Sunday score: Linux 2.6.20, Vista 1.0
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