4 ms·

I went to see what the big changes were to justify a new major version number and saw: “The numbering change is not indicative of anything special. If you want

I went to see what the big changes were to justify a new major version number and saw: “The numbering change is not indicative of anything special. If you want to have an official reason, it's that I ran out of fingers and toes to count on, so 4.21 became 5.0” I laughed out loud.

Waterluvian 8y ago
I can't help myself. I need to know why 5.0. Is there a reason, even a pointless one? Or is it truly a "just because" moment?
- wungsten 8y ago
  Any reason you choose :) From the OP email: | So go wild. Make up your own reason for why it's 5.0.
  - Waterluvian 8y ago
    Because 4.22 would unfairly wear down the 2 key.
- usaphp 8y ago
  > even a pointless one > I ran out of fingers and toes to count on
- techntoke 8y ago
  Because 4.20 was a very special release.
- uranusjr 8y ago
  It probably is simply “just because”. Not the first time Linus feels it, IIRC 3.0 was basically bumped for the same non-reason.
  - hornetblack 8y ago
    I think there was at least a Google+ poll.
- zanny 8y ago
  Its seriously just Linus doesn't like counting past 20. We only got 4.20 for the weed meme. 3.19 -> 4.0 and 4.20 -> 5.0 just because.
irq 8y ago
OK so Linus, like most, has 10 fingers and 10 toes: totaling 20.. Yet 4.21 was already assigned. What was the last thing he counted on? Guesses below.
- sigstoat 8y ago
  whatever it was, he was using a lot of it back for the 1.3 series, which made it up to 1.3.100 at least.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- ianai 8y ago
  Actually it’s enough to know that you’re beyond all appendages. Ie one plus all fingers+toes.
- andrewshadura 8y ago
  I believe most people, Linus included, have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, making it 10 digits in total.
  - tsukikage 8y ago
    ...but you can count to 256 on 8 fingers...
djsumdog 8y ago
I mean, that's the way it's been forever. IIRC, the release for 3.0 had the same type of message with it. There was no big breaking change, it just felt like it was time to bump the big number.
craftyguy 8y ago
The kernel versioning (as of 3.0) has always been arbitrary. Go wild.

Waterluvian 8y ago

I can't help myself. I need to know why 5.0. Is there a reason, even a pointless one? Or is it truly a "just because" moment?

wungsten 8y ago
Any reason you choose :) From the OP email: | So go wild. Make up your own reason for why it's 5.0.
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  Because 4.22 would unfairly wear down the 2 key.
usaphp 8y ago
> even a pointless one > I ran out of fingers and toes to count on
techntoke 8y ago
Because 4.20 was a very special release.
uranusjr 8y ago
It probably is simply “just because”. Not the first time Linus feels it, IIRC 3.0 was basically bumped for the same non-reason.
- hornetblack 8y ago
  I think there was at least a Google+ poll.
zanny 8y ago
Its seriously just Linus doesn't like counting past 20. We only got 4.20 for the weed meme. 3.19 -> 4.0 and 4.20 -> 5.0 just because.

irq 8y ago

OK so Linus, like most, has 10 fingers and 10 toes: totaling 20.. Yet 4.21 was already assigned. What was the last thing he counted on? Guesses below.

sigstoat 8y ago
whatever it was, he was using a lot of it back for the 1.3 series, which made it up to 1.3.100 at least.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
ianai 8y ago
Actually it’s enough to know that you’re beyond all appendages. Ie one plus all fingers+toes.
andrewshadura 8y ago
I believe most people, Linus included, have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, making it 10 digits in total.
- tsukikage 8y ago
  ...but you can count to 256 on 8 fingers...

djsumdog 8y ago

I mean, that's the way it's been forever. IIRC, the release for 3.0 had the same type of message with it. There was no big breaking change, it just felt like it was time to bump the big number.

craftyguy 8y ago

The kernel versioning (as of 3.0) has always been arbitrary. Go wild.