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May 5, 2010

Red Hat Linux Enterprise version 6 is currently in its first beta release. For now, the Linux kernel is nearing its 2.6.34 release, while the most recent stable release is the 2.6.33 version, which came out at the beginning of 2010. However, instead of either holding on to the 2.6.33 Linux kernel or adapting the 2.6.34 kernel, Red Hat is taking a different approach this time.

"We do have pieces of the 2.6.34 newer kernel, as well as the preceding versions in RHEL 6," Tim Burke, vice president of platform engineering at Red Hat said. So there is no one kernel version number that accurately represents the RHEL 6 kernel."

He added "we take what is upstream. If there are pieces that are not mature, we disable them so they don't disrupt things and there are some technology pieces that are further ahead that we pull in."

According to the latest "Who Writes Linux" report from the Linux Foundation, Red Hat contributed about 12.2 percent of all change contributions to the Linux 2.6.30 kernel.

IBM came in at a good second place with about 6.2 percent, Novell was third at 5.9 percent and Intel came in 4th at 5.8 percent.

Among the longer-term Linux kernel efforts that Red Hat is advancing rapidly is real-time capabilities, which enables the operating system to deliver performance that can be easy to determine in advance. This ensures that Linux processes are executed within the same amount of time which is a critical feature for industries like the military and financial services.

The new kernel is a hybrid of best-of-breed technologies that have been implemented in Linux so far. And it's in keeping with earlier Red Hat releases. Six years ago, Red Hat was backporting features from the Linux 2.6 kernel into its own 2.4 Linux kernel.

The Red Hat approach to backporting features was praised at the time by Linux creator Linus Torvalds.

Some of Red Hat's real-time Linux kernel efforts are being included in RHEL 6, though the company has a separate real-time kernel that is part of its new release, which tracks the latest in real-time innovations.

"Because we're the leading contributor to Linux, we always have lots of initiatives and projects underway. Some of these initiatives are short-term while others are longer-term," added Burke.

There is still some work that is ongoing with the real-time kernel, which Burke described as a continuum of enhancements.

"Overall, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 has greatly benefited from a fairly sizable subset of the work we've done in real time for MRG, which has since been incorporated upstream," Burke added.

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Source: Red Hat.

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