How does new kernel version system work

In the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.misc, in article

Second digit odd is testing. CURRENTLY 2.5.x is dead, and the 2.7.x tree hasn't been started AND MAY NOT BE.

Bingo - but you'd see this by reading the ChangeLog-2.6.{mumble} files.

Bug fixes that are available now, rather than waiting for 2.6.12 (the trailing zero doesn't belong there).

The "somewhere" that you read seems to have it wrong. The third number (11, 12, etc) is, and always has been, the serial revision number within the stable-unstable tree identified by the second number. Thus, 2.5.74 and 2.5.75 were unstable because they were 2.5.x. 2.0.x (2.0.40 is current), 2.2.x (2.2.26 is current), 2.4.x (2.4.31 is current) and 2.6.x (2.6.11.11 is current) are all 'stable'. If you are looking for bleeding edge, you need to look at kernels with dash numbers - such as 2.6.12-rc6 which is the sixth Release Candidate for 2.6.12.

write:

Would you rather that the bug-fixes not be released until a new kernel becomes available, or do you care about larger revision numbers.

12777 Dec 17 2003 ChangeLog-2.6.0 193568 plus 1 Jan 9 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.1 293235 Feb 3 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.2 307228 Feb 17 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.3 328793 Mar 10 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.4 366216 Apr 3 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.5 498217 May 9 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.6 779078 Jun 16 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.7 903976 Aug 14 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.8 263 Aug 14 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.8.1 1293529 Oct 19 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.9 1552868 Dec 24 2004 ChangeLog-2.6.10 1495678 Mar 2 10:36 ChangeLog-2.6.11 1221 Mar 8 19:41 ChangeLog-2.6.11.1 235 Mar 9 03:17 ChangeLog-2.6.11.2 8174 Mar 13 01:55 ChangeLog-2.6.11.3 1017 Mar 15 19:11 ChangeLog-2.6.11.4 5149 Mar 19 01:40 ChangeLog-2.6.11.5 2824 Mar 25 22:31 ChangeLog-2.6.11.6 5784 Apr 7 15:01 ChangeLog-2.6.11.7 6078 Apr 29 21:43 ChangeLog-2.6.11.8 2184 May 11 22:47 ChangeLog-2.6.11.9 3094 May 16 18:17 ChangeLog-2.6.11.10 14356 May 27 05:57 ChangeLog-2.6.11.11

180955 Jun 06 17:59 ChangeLog-2.6.12-rc6

Think there might be a hint in the size of those files? (kernel.org-pub-linux-kernel-v2.6-)

Old guy