A recent study done by a software company comparing the two most recently-released versions of the Linux kernel revealed that Linux is getting better, even with just a little aging.

Coverity, a maker of software analysis tools, said it had analyzed the 2.6.9 version of the Linux kernel in December and a newer version of the kernel (2.6.12) in July. The study found that open source developers who write and maintain the kernel had fixed some significant issues with the software over the six-month study period.

Linux kernel code analyzed in December of 2004 was found to have five file system buffer overrun weaknesses and one major network buffer overrun issue. Both of these were corrected when the code was re-analyzed in July, the company says. The study says that the code base for the Linux kernel grew from 5.76 million lines of code to 6.03 million lines. Total code defects found in Coverity's study increased overall from 985 in December 2004 to 1,008 in July, but the number of defects per lines of code decreased from .17 per 1,000 lines of code to .16.

Coverity's summation of its study is that users should not be hesitant to upgrade versions of the Linux kernel as they are released; the company says users had shown reluctance to upgrade kernels, erring on the side of "ain't broke/don't fix," but the software vendor claims the advantages of kernel upgrades come in the form of a more stable, less hackable Linux Kernel.