Could someone explain or link me to how revision control worked in the very early days of the Linux kernel? I'm aware of BitKeeper, Git et al. but interested in how things worked at its outset.
Let's say you had the 2.6.0 source in /usr/src/linux.
You would FTP to ftp.kernel.org, download patch-2.6.1.gz into /usr/src and
# cd /usr/src
# gzip -d patch-2.6.1.gz
# patch -p0 < patch-2.6.1
Side note: there would often be other patches by various kernel developers (e.g. Alan Cox) and they would be named something like "patch-2.6.1-pre6-ac.gz". I recall once coming across a patch by someone I had never heard of -- Don Tuse was his name, apparently. I proceeded to download, e.g., patch-2.4.8-dontuse.gz (or whatever version it was), apply it, and recompile my kernel. It was only later that I realized Don Tuse was actually "Don't Use".
https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/LinusTalk200705Transcr...
Version control worked by posting your patches to the mailing list. Linus would apply your patches to his tree, which he'd occasionally tar up and upload to the mirrors.