Among
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...
developers, the -mm tree refers to a version of the kernel
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
maintained by
Andrew Morton.
The -mm kernel tree used to fill the role of Linux kernel development builds, formerly identified by odd version numbers following "2.6." (see
this section on Linux kernel version numbering). New and experimental code used to find its way into a 2.6.x-mm kernel build. Historically, the -mm tree focused on new developments for the memory management part of the kernel (mm).
Occasionally, the -mm tree was overloaded with new patches, so testing it became difficult. On September 17, 2007, Morton sent a mail saying that "this just isn't working any more". The presence of the new linux-next git repository has offloaded much of the work that made mm maintenance troublesome, allowing Morton to continue to use
quilt
A quilt is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of two or more layers of fabric or fiber. Commonly three layers are used with a filler material. These layers traditionally include a woven cloth top, a layer of padding, batting or w ...
to manage his series of "mmotm" (mm of the moment) patches.
Morton includes a subset of the mmotm patches in linux-next, which has a head called "linux-next/akpm". There is also a git tree that includes the patches that appear in releases of the mm tree. To get all of the mm patches at any given time, developers still need quilt or ad hoc shell scripts to apply the full set of patches.
References
README for the mmotm patches
"This Just Isn't Working Any More"online listing of the linux-next/akpm git head
release announcement of the mmotm snapshot by Andrew Morton on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, mentioning mmots
Linux kernel
{{linux-stub