Re: [tlug] Just curious... how much impact does a kernel update make?

[Edward Middleton <emiddleton@example.com>]

Dave M G wrote:
> Which comes back to my original question, how much end-result impact
> do these new kernel features have for an end-user such as myself?

One of

1. no impact.
2. some impact
3. great impact.

or something in-between.

You as a user, in general, interact with programs not the kernel so any
changes in the kernel will only effect you in as much as they effect
changes in the programs you use.  This is why this is a question that
can't be answered definitively.

To clarify with an example, how will the addition of epoll improve
things for an end user?  If the users programs aren't capable of using
epoll they won't see any advantage, but if the programs use epoll they
will see a massive performance improvement.

> Are they making changes that don't affect me at all if I don't happen
> to have relevant hardware?
Yes

> .. are they incrementally improving my system in some way I might
> understand if I knew what to look for?
Yes

Edward