Stable kernel maintenance for distributions

Linux stable releases

Linus releases a stable 3.x every 2-3 months after a series of release candidates
Greg K-H maintains a stable branch for each Linus release, with stable update releases numbered 3.x.y
Branch includes cherry-picked or backported changes to fix serious bugs and add support for new devices
Updates released roughly every 1-2 weeks, at least until 3.x+1 is available
A longterm stable branch may be maintained by Greg or another developer beyond this period

All changes go to mailing list stable@vger.kernel.org
A commit with a Cc: pseudo-header for this address will be picked up by stable maintainers once Linus pulls the commit
If it doesn't apply to a stable branch, the author is usually notified and may provide a backported version
Any commit in Linus's tree, or a fix for a stable-only regression, can be nominated by mail to this list, if it meets the criteria - see Documentation/stable_kernel_rules.txt