kernel software raid support

[Charles Wilkins]

What is the status of software raid development in 2.2.x?   There seems to be a growing number of hacks addressing kernel raid support, tools, and such specifics as read balancing, yet the kernel contains very old code for raid support which seems to act as nothing more than a placeholder for patching.   Would anybody happen to have a current list of working patches for a decent implementation of software raid1 using the 2.2.18 kernel that employs some level of read performance that exceeds that of 1 harddisk?   Regards, Charles