[Techtalk] Is Linux 2.4.18 Really That Unstable?

[Maria Blackmore]

On Tue, 15 Oct 2002, Julie wrote:

> I'm having near-constant crashes from 2.4.18.  I upgraded from 2.4.2-2
> so I could get ext3 support without all the hassle and I'm getting
> tired of the crashes, which don't seem resolved in 2.4.19 either.

Hi,

It's probably some specific thing about that kernel, one particular driver
for example, that is causing crashes.

There's not really enough information to say, does it lock up solid? or
panic? or start behaving "oddly"?

I have machines that are running 2.4.18 and have been up for a very long
time


> Does anyone have any suggestions for "ultra-stable" releases beyond
> 2.4.18?  I see that Red Hat 7.3 is shipping with 2.4.8-3 or 2.4.8-10
> (I forget which), but before I upgrade kernels =again= I'd like to
> know that I'm going to some that's going to stay up for a while.

well, the latest stable kernel is 2.4.19

You can also try a self-compiled plain vanilla kernel, using sources
straight from the tarball.  Instead of redhat sources/precompiled kernels,
which will have been patched with other stuff that they think might be
interesting or useful, it might be something from one of their patches
causing the problem.

good luck

Maria