* Linus Torvalds heralds the end of testing phase of latest kernel
In his usual unconventional manner Linux creator Linus Torvalds used the coded phrasing, “The beaver is out of detox,” to herald the end of the testing phase Version 2.6.0 of the Linux kernel last month.
Torvalds sent the e-mail message to the Linux-kernel mailing list on Dec. 17. This signaled that kernel Version 2.6.0 is ready for production deployments.
The new kernel, which is at the heart of all Linux operating system distributions, promises greater scalability and memory support over the previous 2.4.x kernel, which is used in most production Linux servers today.
The 2.6.0 kernel has been tested on machines with as many as 64 processors. The kernel can also handle up to 64G bytes of memory. It will be best suited for server deployments, although some fixes are in the works to improve its database serving performance, according to programmers involved with kernel development. Laptop and desktop Linux users are advised to wait until patches are released for those deployment types.
Test versions of the new kernel have been available since July 2003, and developers have been winnowing through the code and squeezing out bugs up until December. Kernel Version 2.6.0 is the first new production kernel version to be released in three years; 2.4.0 was released in January of 2001.
