Andrew Morton [interview] has released 2.6.2-rc3-mm1, including a new debug patch to detect when a process calls i_size_write() without holding the inode's i_sem. Andrew explains, "It generates a warning and a stack backtrace. We know that XFS generates such a trace. It will turn itself off after the first ten warnings. Please don't report the XFS case." Also appearing in this kernel is Rusty Russell's CPU hotplug code, recently discussed on the lkml. It is pointed out that 2.6.2-rc3-mm1 is broken on the ppc64 architecture, "something to do with the sched-domains patch although at this stage we do not know whether the problem lies with that patch or with the ppc64 code."

The desire to merge reiser4 [story] into the -mm kernel was again raised. Andrew responded favorably enough, requesting the necessary patches and complete documentation. He does caution, "be aware that the barriers for a new filesystem are relatively high: each one adds a significant maintenance burden to the VFS and MM developers. It will need cautious review." This comment is evidently in reference to 2.6 inclusion, not -mm inclusion, as he goes on to add, "but that doesn't mean we cannot get it out there, get you some more testing and exposure."