Linux Foundation Backs Long-Term Support Kernels

The Linux Foundation has announced this morning from Prague at LinuxCon Europe 2011 that they will be backing long-term support Linux kernel releases. In a move that targets consumer electronic devices relying upon the Linux kernel, once per year an LTS Linux kernel will be tagged and it will be maintained for a period of two years.

The Linux Foundation's new project as part of their Consumer Electronics workgroup is the Long-Term Support Intitiative (LTSI). The goal is to provide "an annual release of a Linux kernel suitable for supporting the lifespan of consumer electronics products and regular updates of those releases for two years."

LTSI is being backed by Hitachi, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Atheros, Samsung, Toshiba, and various other hardware vendors.

While it's not mentioned in the press release, if this long-term support move for the Linux kernel sounds familiar, it's basically what Greg Kroah-Hartman proposed this past August.