Linux creator Linus Torvalds issued a Christmas Eve exhortation to members of the Linux kernel mailing list (www.lkml.org) to help him to test Linux 2.6.15-rc7. Revealing classic geek-think in assuming that most mailing list members were going to be "bored out of their minds" on Christmas Day, he issued the following statement:

"Now, most of you are probably going to be totally bored out of your minds on Christmas day, and here's the perfect distraction. Test 2.6.15-rc7. All the stores will be closed, and there's really nothing better to do in between meals.

"A number of mostly one-liners. The biggest ones are probably some s390 qeth updates and some ipv6 fixes, the rest is just a number of small fixes. The shortlog gives a pretty good picture of what's going on. I suspect the forcedeth fix is the one most likely to affect any reasonable number of people, although the more relaxed usb suspend probably makes a big difference.

"Please do give it a try, and if you have any issues/regressions, send out a note (even if you sent one earlier) so that we don't forget about it.

"Thanks,

Linus"