I'm just starting to learn git. I noticed when you clone Linus's Linux Tree and view tags, you get various kernel versions back to 2.6.11. However, somewhere along the way, it seems that the 3rd version number was dropped and that you have various rc versions. However, tarballs available on kernel.org maintain the bug fixes in a 3rd version number fashion. I understand Linus to be very lax in the meaning of version numbers. However, that 3rd number to me represents a version with a latest fixes. So what is the difference and how should I compare the 2 sources of kernel code? Does Linus not update the older LTS kernel versions in his git tree as regularly as kernel.org and subsequently rolls all changes into rc releases?
