version number of Linux kernel development

[Kamil Konieczny]

On 01.08.2017 06:35, Yubin Ruan wrote:
> Hi, 
> I got a question regarding to Linux's version number. [...]

> So, in this example, 4.2.7 would be thrown away after 4.4.0 is released. Is
> this the same for every major release?
> 
> I see a series of 4.4.x release, ranging from 4.4.1 ~ 4.4.49, at 
>     http://elixir.free-electrons.com/linux/latest/source
> which really confused me. Accoding to the model above, there should be only
> 4.4.7. After that, it would 4.5.x.

Look at https://www.kernel.org/

there are "longterm" branches, they are developed until EOL (end-of-life)

for example, there is now 4.4.79 branch

as i see this, some branches are selected to be "longterm",
and they get the same set patches

-- 
Best regards,
Kamil Konieczny
Samsung R&D Institute Poland