Linux 2.4.0-test1 Released

Chris Cheney writes: "Linux 2.4.0-test1 is out with a note from Linus for more details. Why does all the cool stuff come out after potato is frozen? " With Linus being gone for three weeks, Alan is likely to maintain a 2.4.0-ac series. It's getting closer...

Comments

If you want to rewrite, pick better...

[Christopher B. Brown]

C++ and Java are the "obvious" choices, even to illiterate Pointy-Haired Bosses, but unfortunately have a need for considerable runtime systems, particularly Java. A JVM requires a memory manager, which leaves you having to lift yourself by your own bootstraps if you write the JVM in Java, and thereby require a JVM and a memory manager, which leaves you recursing infinitely...

More reasonable alternatives would include:

• Modula-3 , in which is written Spin.
• Or perhaps Oberon, which has been used to construct several OS-like environments.
• Or perhaps even Eiffel, whose Design By Contract approach makes claims that C++ can provide anything describable as rock solid look very silly.
• Based on the number of language compilers being built using ML, I'd think it to perhaps be a candidate. The ability to do heavy-duty static type inference would, not unlike with Eiffel, make claims of C++ being "rock solid" look pretty sad.

Yes, these languages don't have syntax that slavishly resembles C. But it's not as if the actual semantics of C++ or Java are actually that much like C...

System requirements

[Ed Avis]

What sort of system is needed to run the current 2.3 and 2.4-test kernels? Going from 2.0 to 2.2 was a big jump in memory consumption, although apparently things did improve a little during the late 2.1 series.

Will I still be able to run the latest kernel on my 8Mbyte machine?

*ahem* announced :P

[jezzball]

From the readme:

Have fun. And let's see how many people find this without it even being
announced ;)

Announced on slashdot is about as bad as it can get :)

Dan
ls: .sig: File not found.

How to get 2.4.0-test1

[darth xenu]

Here's how to get it:

1. download 2.3.99pre9 from ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.3
2. download the pre10-3 patch from ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/testing

If you look at the pre10-3 patch, it says 2.4.0-test1 in the Makefile.

Re:About the Kernel and newer users.

[Sir Robin]

If exchanging a kernel is such a dang-blasted important task for any Linux user to know how to do, why is it so complicated?

I assume you refer to the difficulty of configuring the kernel correctly, i.e. running make {config|menuconfig|xconfig} and choosing the right options for what you want to do. I give the anwer: it's so complicated because it has to be. With power comes complexity; there really isn't any good, flexible way around that. There are lots of options because people run Linux on lots of different kinds of systems, and not all of them want, for example, SCSI support, or network support, or USB support, etc.

As near as I, at least, can tell, if you take away the complexity, and the requirement of knowing what you're doing, you'll dramatically decrease the flexibility and (obviously) the configurability of the OS.

As for Don't say that a 'normal' user doesn't need to do a kernel swap, well, sorry, most users don't need to do a kernel build. They can quite happily wait for RedHat or Debian or SuSE or whomever to release a 2.4.x kernel and download the binaries.

I compiled from source my first kernel two days ago, and let me tell you: it ain't something that I would recommend any user do.

It isn't something I would recommend just any user do, either. At least, not without some sort of preparation and due diligence (e.g. read the help files, and don't say yes or no until you know what they're talking about). I'm not trying to imply you didn't prepare and do your due diligence, by the way; I'm agreeing with you.

1. Why is swapping the Kernel so complicated? Why not automate this more?

I'm not positive, 'cause I don't use it, but I think that Debian, for example, has automated new kernel builds. I couldn't speak for any other distros, not having used 'em.

The HOWTO that comes with the kernel source doesn't mention ANYWHERE that you have to swap in the newly compile System.map file so lilo and your system don't have hissy fits.

I'd agree that that's a problem. I hope you send/sent an e-mail to the HOWTO maintainer.

Secret?

[BlueUnderwear]

Maybe Linus should have put an NDA around that README file. Then he would now have grounds to sue Slashdot!

About the Kernel and newer users.

[Lonesmurf]

I am no advanced Linux user. I know my way around the system well enough to get by however I do run into problem on an almost regular basis.

Now that I've made some sort of introduction, I would like to ask a simple question of the Linux using community: If exchanging a kernel is such a dang-blasted important task for any Linux user to know how to do, why is it so complicated?

[Don't say that a 'normal' user doesn't need to do a kernel swap, it doesn't lead to any interesting discussion. I did it because I wanted to test the USB stacks with some of the devices that my company develops.]

I compiled from source my first kernel two days ago, and let me tell you: it ain't something that I would recommend any user do. In fact, I royally screwed my system to the point that I had to restore from backup!

The questions presented:

1. Why is swapping the Kernel so complicated? Why not automate this more?
2. Why is the process not better documented? (Don't tell me that it is, because it is not. The HOWTO that comes with the kernel source doesn't mention ANYWHERE that you have to swap in the newly compile System.map file so lilo and your system don't have hissy fits.)

--

I realise that some of what i referenced may be a bit off (that System.map thing in particular). Be gentle.

Rami James
Pixel Pusher
ALST R&D Center, IL
--

Re:About the Kernel and newer users.

[tmu]

Interestingly enough, Eric Raymond just yesterday posted that he has produced a beta version of a new configuration and build management system for the kernel.

Since he's known for metalanguages and minilanguages (computer languages of minimal scope), not surprisingly, he rewrote the configuration management language used to control kernel builds.

Two relevant points here, though:

1) I don't think that this will help your situation of *installing* rather than *building* a new kernel.

2) It's written in Python. If you read ESR's piece in Linux Journal last month, this is no surprise at all, but the reception on the kernel list was decidedly cool, on balance. ESR held his own with arguments about 'freeze' which can produce compilable C code from a python program (albeit somewhat inelegantly) and arguments about the existing perl and tk/tcl dependencies that are already in the kernel build system, but there was still widespread (and sometimes unprincipled) opposition to the whole idea of using Python at all.

I doubt that the new config system will get incorporated until 2.5, though.

sounds awfully suspicious...

[The_Messenger]

Am I the only one that sees the beginning of a crappy Disney comedy here? Linus goes on "vacation" for three weeks... but never comes back! Poor Alan is left in charge of the rambunctious kernel, and merry hijinks ensue! Linus, meanwhile, lives the high life in Brazil under the alias "Mr. Pinkerton". But back home, an evil Race Condition from Outer Space threatens to destroy all of Linux Land! Thankfully, Linus returns home just in time to save the day. Linus and Alan live happily ever after, with the Race Condition as the family pet!

McDonald's gets the merchandising deal (Happy Meals come with "Linux Heros" figurines) and Eisner makes another few million.

The End.

---------///----------
This post is not redundant, please don't moderate it as such. I repeat, this post is not redundant.

Guide to moderation for this article

[Anonymous Coward]

And another other open source releases announced on /.

• Informative - poster cut 'n' pasted from the FAQ linked to in the article.
• Insightful - poster waffled on about how this is a Good Thing for everyone.
• Interesting - poster asked what was in this release.
• Funny - poster said anything negative about Microsoft.
• Offtopic - poster made a good point relating this to something other than Linux.
• Troll - well-thought out opinion which *gasp* does not praise Open Source, RMS, Linux or other /. "heroes" and which uses full sentances.
• Flamebait - as above, but without the full sentances.

Please moderate accordingly, and your crack will be delivered as per usual.

Re:Alan likely to maintain 2.4.0-ac series

[kressb]

I'm just wondering. Who, if not Alan Cox whould maintain the ac (Alan Cox) patch-series? 8-)

Why, Anonymous Coward, of course!

Alan's Todo list

[cehf2]

Before people get their hopes up, you should check out the length of Alan Cox's Todo list. It is not small :(

Capable Of Corrupting Your FS
-----------------------------
E820 memory setup causes crashes/corruption on some laptops
Use PCI DMA by default in IDE is unsafe on VIA VPx x<3

Security
--------
Fix module remove race bug (mostly done - Al Viro)
exec loader permissions
Semaphore races (fix in 2.2)
Semaphore memory leak (fix in 2.2)
Exploitable leak in file locking (Willy)
TTY and N_HDLC layer called poll_wait twice per fd and corrupt memory
ATM layer calls poll_wait twice per fd and corrupts memory
Random calls poll_wait twice per fd and corrupts memory
PCI sound calls poll_wait twice per fd and corrupts memory
sbus audio calls poll_wait twice per fd and corrupts memory
access_process_mm oops/lockup if task->mm changes (Manfred) [user can cause deliberately]
RtSig limit handling bug
Signals leak kernel memory (security) [FIX in ac tree]

Boot Time Failures
------------------
IDE fails on some VIA boards (eg the i-opener)
AHA29xx driver appears to stomp other cards
Use PCI DMA 'lost interrupt' problem with some hw [which ?]
(NEC Versa LX with PIIX tuning)
HT6560/UMC8672 ide sets up stuff too early (before region stuff can be done)
Crashes on boot on some Compaqs ? (may be fixed)
IBM MCA driver breaks on Device_Inquiry at boot
DEFXX driver appears broken
ACPI hangs on boot for some systems

In Progress
-----------
Dcache threading (Al Viro)
Merge the network fixes (DaveM)
Finish I2O merge (Intel/Alan)
Fix all remaining PCI code to use new resources and enable_Device (mostly done)

Fix Exists But Isnt Merged
--------------------------
Update SGI VisWS to new-style IRQ handling (Ingo)
64bit lockf support
Support MP table above 1Gig (Ingo)
Finish sorting out VM balancing (Rik Van Riel, Juan Quintela et al)
Dont panic on boot when meeting HP boxes with wacked APIC table numbering (AC)
Scheduler bugs in RT (Dimitris)
Fix eth= command line
HFS is still broken
AIC7xxx doesnt work non PCI ? (Doug says OK, new version due anyway)
8139 + bridging fails
Fix hpfs_unlink (Al Viro)
put_user is broken for i386 machines (security) - sem stuff may be wrong too
BusLogic crashes when you cat /proc/scsi/BusLogic/0 (Robert de Vries)
Loopback fs hangs

To Do
-----
SHM code corrupts memory
Floppy driver broken by VFS changes. Other drivers may be too
(Stuff gets called after _close now - unload race possibly too)
Tulip hang on rmmod/crashes sometimes
Devfs races, Sockfs (removing NULL ->i_sb stuf) (Al Viro)
Restore O_SYNC functionality
Debian report that the gcc 2.95 possibly miscompiles fault.c or mm/remap.c
(Perl script available from Arjan)
Fix further NFS races (Al Viro)
Trace numerous random crashes in the inode cache
Test other file systems on write
The netdev name changing stuff broke GRE
Audit all char and block drivers to ensure they are safe with the 2.3
locking - a lot of them are not especially on the open() path.
Stick lock_kernel() calls around driver with issues to hard to fix nicely
for 2.4 itself
PCMCIA/Cardbus hangs, IRQ problems, Keyboard/mouse problem (may be fixed ?)
pci_socket crash on unload
truncate_inode_pages does unsafe page cache operations
Linux sends a 1K buffer with SCSI inquiries. The ANSI-SCSI limit is 255.
Linux uses TEST_UNIT_READY to chck for device presence on a PUN/LUN. The
INQUIRY is the only valid test allowed by the spec.

To Do But Non Showstopper
-------------------------
Make syncppp use new ppp code
Finish 64bit vfs merges (lockf64 and friends missing)
NCR5380 isnt smp safe
DMFE is not SMP safe
Go through as 2.4pre kicks in and figure what we should mark obsolete for
the final 2.4
Union mount (Al Viro)
Per Process rtsigio limit
Fix SPX socket code
Boot hangs on a range of Dell docking stations (Latitude)
iget abuse in knfsd
Some people report 2.3.x serial problems
USB hangs on APM suspend on some machines
PCMCIA crashes on unloading pci_socket
ISAPnP IRQ handling failing on SB1000 + resource handling bug
TB Multisound driver hasnt been updated for new isa I/O totally.
Fix boards with different TSC per CPU and kill TSC use on them
DVD-RAM is apparently not working for write currently (Rogier Wolff)

Compatibility Errors
--------------------
Xterm broke in 2.3.99pre6 (FIONREAD/select loop)

Probably Post 2.4
-----------------
per super block write_super needs an async flag
addres_space needs a VM pressure/flush callback (Ingo)
per file_op rw_kiovec

Drivers In 2.2 not 2.4
----------------------

To Check
--------
Check O_APPEND atomicity bug fixing is complete
Protection on isize (sct) [Al Viro mostly done]
Mikulas claims we need to fix the getblk/mark_buffer_uptodate thing for
2.3.x as well
Network block device seems broken by block device changes
Fbcon races
VFS?VM - mmap/write deadlock (demo code seems to show lock is there)
rw sempahores on page faults (mmap_sem)
kiobuf seperate lock functions/bounce/page_address fixes
Fix routing by fwmark
Some FB drivers check the A000 area and find it busy then bomb out
rw semaphores on inodes to fix read/truncate races ? [Probably fixed]
Not all device drivers are safe now the write inode lock isnt taken on write
File locking needs checking for races
Multiwrite IDE breaks on a disk error [minor issue at best]
ACPI/APM suspend issue - IDE related stuff ?
NFS bugs are fixed
Floppy last block cache flush error
Chase reports of SMB not working
Locking on getcwd
floppy fails on some machines
IRDA calls get random bytes before random is set up
Some AWE cards are not being found by ISAPnP ??
SHM segments not always being detached and destroyed right ?

Alan likely to maintain 2.4.0-ac series

[kaunio]

I'm just wondering. Who, if not Alan Cox whould maintain the ac (Alan Cox) patch-series? 8-)