So, I will take the suggestion to go participate on the devel list...
And I understand the reluctance to just keep stuff that isn't tested...
And, it even makes sense to see what people scream about, after all, there is an old saying, if you don't wear it for a year, throw it away...
But, I think it is fair to re-frame the question, in a _rescue_ context.
For rescue, one often finds oneself suddenly with _only_ one's rescue media. Having the latest kernel isn't so important, but being able to quickly and easily do something-or-other *at all* is important.
So the question is, we've been talking about what 11.12 removes. For _rescue_, what does it _add_ over 11.5? EFI boot support is a candidate for something that would matter, but cleanup, mDNS, auto-startups, build stuff for grml, zsh config, terminal fonts, etc . - doesn't really matter.
For me personally, I use grml for rescue and reformats and recoveries. Often I boot virtual machines with it, also, to do something-or-other to a copy of a running machine. I'm not kidding that the most common thing I do boils down to chains of netcat/tar/cpio/lzop/gzip/buffer/nc to move around disk images or virtual machines, and having both buffer and lzop even considered for removal gives me pause that maybe this tool is going in a direction different than what my uses and needs are.
So, for me, the question is really simple - 2011.05 is a pefect fit for my current needs - should I just take that as the gold-standard final- release and not look back? 2011.05 is working _fine_ for me - even a couple of hours to learn how to build a -full myself, never mind the hours to become active, is more driven by idle curiosity and a desire to support the tool than it is by common sense. Common sense for me would be, 2011.05 ain't broke and I'm unlikely to have hardware in the next 5 years that cares for newer kernels. Common sense would be to slide the write protect tab on a few USB sticks and figure you've painted your masterpiece and it is done.
The question is, what reasons are there to upgrade? Aside from it being smaller and advantages arising directly from it being smaller?
-Tom