linux-kernel - Re: Can we please have a major fork of Linux into a modern and legacy versions ?

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Message-ID: <ZWJm-6elPNNtbNI5@mit.edu>
Date:   Sat, 25 Nov 2023 16:28:27 -0500
From:   "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@....edu>
To:     Aaron Gray <aaronngray.lists@...il.com>
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Subject: Re: Can we please have a major fork of Linux into a modern and
 legacy versions ?

On Sat, Nov 25, 2023 at 08:30:01PM +0000, Aaron Gray wrote:
> I hear Linux is going to drop a lot of legacy devices including the
> ones dropped already. I am wondering if we can please have a major
> fork of Linux into a modern and legacy versions ?
> 
> With a consolidation and security updates to the older version.

If someone wants to take an LTS kernel and volunteer to maintain it,
including cherrypicking security updates, and making sure that fixes
in core subsystems don't cause some of these legacy drivers to break,
anyone can create such a fork.

These things don't come for free though, and if you can't find a set
of volunteers to do the work to maintain such a fork, maybe that's a
good hint as to why such a fork hasn't happened.  Of course, if you
are willing to provide all of that work yourself, that would be great!

Cheers,

						- Ted