[_pmf_]

> But while that might be annoying as a developer that wants a problem fixed now, I'd say that it's probably for the better of the whole kernel.

I agree in general. However, the Embedded Linux world suffers from severe fragmentation and duplicate and/or incompatible work in part due to this policy (the greater good). The ARM platform has been consolidated a bit due to the involvement of very large players, but on the PowerPC side, things are pretty dim.