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2.4.9 Kernel Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the download-compile-reboot-repeat dept.

Justin writes: "Linus is off to Finland for a week or so and released 2.4.9. " Here is the Changelog for those of you interested. Yeah, it's probably gonna be a little crowded for a bit. Please post mirrors in the comments.

32 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Re:wholy crap! by TrentC · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not even Microsoft cooks up that many service packs in this particular timeframe...

    That's because they typically deny a bug's existence for a couple of months before they get around to fixing it. :)

    Jay (=

  2. Re:how many kernels realeased a year? by barneyfoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Duh. 2.0 was really stable and 2.1 was being heavily worked on. Graph 2.1 in there and you'd get probably 50 or more kernels for that year.

  3. Release early, release often by proton · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And ofcourse, a slower release rate would also slow the entire development process.

    Has anyone observed the GCC development? People say that Red Hat did a good thing by releasing a development snapshot as 2.96 (altho I dont agree with the version number, I agree with the release).

    If a kernel patchlevel (remember v Major.Minor.Patchlevel?) breaks your application, then I am led to believe that your application is very poorly programmed...

  4. Re:Righto.... by Pinchy · · Score: 3, Funny

    .stnemmoc eht ni srorrim tsop esaelP

  5. SB Live! driver fixed by bconway · · Score: 5, Informative

    Though not a showstopper by any means, the EMU10K1 driver has been fixed from 2.4.8, and is now fully up-to-date. I've been using the drivers from opensource.creative.com since the release of the 2.4 kernel, and this is definitely a welcome change. Check it out!

    --
    Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
    1. Re:SB Live! driver fixed by bconway · · Score: 3, Informative

      As in: the drivers included up until 2.4.8 were over 6 months old and lacked a lot of features compared to those mainted on http://opensource.creative.com . These are now fixed in the kernel and fully up-to-date, which I consider to be a good thing.

      --
      Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
    2. Re:SB Live! driver fixed by da+groundhog · · Score: 3, Informative

      it should be noted to all the trolls out there, that the emu10k1 user-land tools include an assembler and loader for the cards dsp chip which means that you can not only compile/load the effects it includes (such as chorus and flanger) but you can PROGRAM YOUR OWN EFFECTS (tres cool). And of course this comes with ample documentation.

      --
      "...through this door all my dreams come realities, and all my realities become dreams..."
    3. Re:SB Live! driver fixed by Azog · · Score: 5, Informative

      All of the above is true, however... the new driver may not work for everyone.

      Alan Cox, for example, tried them out and found they didn't work on some of his machines, so he didn't include the new driver in the -ac patches.

      So, it seems they work great for some people but not others. Linus decided to keep them in because the new driver is being maintained, and the old one wasn't - a buggy driver that's being worked on is better than a buggy driver that's being ignored... and the new drivers have much better support for the features of the SBLive.

      Anyway, if you upgrade and find that your sound card quits working, you have several choices - revert to your previous working version, or try Alan Cox'es patched version of the kernel (look under /people/alan on the kernel mirrors) or, if you know what you're doing, just take the relevant emu10k files from 2.4.7 or so and patch them into your tree. Alan Cox's kernels have lots and lots of other changes besides the SBLive driver, of course.

      A lot of work is being done right now on getting the VM (Virtual Memory) balanced right. It works great for a lot of people, but depending on the workload, it can start to thrash really bad and swap itself to death. (kswapd will run, taking all the CPU time and making no progress.) If you run into this problem or others, read the documentation on reporting bugs (see the /linux/REPORTING-BUGS file) and send a mail to the list. Don't hold your breath waiting for a reply, but it will be read, and it might help the developers figure out the pattern of what situations cause problems and what works well.

      (If you report bugs on the Linux Kernel Mailing list, be sure to note what kernel you're running and any non-standard changes you've made.)

      Oh, and if you are not subscribed to the list and want to be cc'ed on replies, say so at the top of your email.

      (I'm not really a kernel developer, yet, but I hack around in the code and read the list, so I know a little about what's going on.)

      --
      Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
      "HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
  6. Re:FreshMeat by SubtleNuance · · Score: 5, Funny

    . When a kernel is released, I want to know about it. and who in their right mind looks at freshmeat every fucking day?

    *me* whistles and taps toe while looking around the room quitely...

  7. Question by mwalker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hey, does anyone know if they're going to support dumping debugging information for multi-threaded processes into core files? I'm really tired of not being able to post-mortem debug in gdb. I know the errata kernal drops per-pid cores, but that's not like having real core file support.

    Any kernel hackers out there heard whisperings about this?

    --

    --
    What happens when you outlaw guns
  8. ChangeLog... by Alakaboo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I love reading the ChangeLogs. Oftentimes they can be quite humorous:

    - David Miller: undo poll() limit braindamage

    This would have helped Bush during the election.

    - David Woodhouse: up_and_exit -> complete_and_exit

    Up and at'em, Dave!

    - me: make return value from do_try_to_free_pages() meaningful

    Do try for meaningful return values.

    - David Miller: "min()/max()" cleanups. Understands signs and sizes.

    Ouch. // min(-400, 3) == 3 // ??

    - Kevin Fleming: more disks the HPT controller doesn't like

    And you have to wonder about this one...

    - Ben LaHaise: use down_read, not down_write() in map_user_kiobuf.
    We don't change the mappings, we just read them.

  9. Blazing Fast Kernel Mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Check out the following blazing-fast mirror:

    http://linux.pantek.com/resource/kernel/linux-2.4. 9.tar.gz
    http://linux.pantek.com/resource/kernel/linux-2.4. 9.tar.gz.sign
    http://linux.pantek.com/resource/kernel/patch-2.4. 9.gz
    http://linux.pantek.com/resource/kernel/patch-2.4. 9.gz.sign

    Happy compiling!

  10. Re:NTFS filesystem by SilentChris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When everybody moves to Windows XP, NTFS will get supported REAL quick.

  11. Re:Gigbabyte Mirror Bandwidth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This one is a lot faster. But it is currently a version out.

  12. Keep 'em comming by FreeMath · · Score: 4, Funny
    Please use mirrors:
    http://kernel.org/mirrors/

    2.4.9 Changelog

    Wow, 2.4.8 lasted a whole week.

    --
    This sig intentionally left blank.
  13. Re:NTFS filesystem by Azog · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is a developer actively working on NTFS support now. It should be safe for read-only mode.
    Note that- write support for NTFS is a dangerous, EXPERIMENTAL feature that you have to explicitly select in the kernel configuration. Until recently, it was almost certain to destroy your disk, and it is still not recommended although rumor has it that it "mostly works now".

    If you blew up an NT partition running in the "read only" mode, send in a bug report to the mailing list. If you want to experiment with write support, send in bug reports for that too, I'm sure the developer will be interested, but don't expect a lot of sympathy if you wipe out important data.

    There's often a good reason why "EXPERIMENTAL" features are called that, even though sometimes it seems political - reiserfs, for example, is pretty safe - reported problems with it usually turn out to be hardware failures.

    --
    Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
    "HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
  14. Righto.... by Bob+McCown · · Score: 4, Funny
    Please post mirrors in the comments.

    Under control

  15. Re:Real news: glibc-2.2.4 was released today by Skapare · · Score: 3, Funny
    Why does the libc get so little publicity compared to the kernel ? I don't get it !

    Because it has no charismatic leader. And many people are simply afraid to upgrade it (more so than the kernel).

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  16. Re:how many kernels realeased a year? by CMiYC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As many as needed. There are no set times or numbers. If enough little bugs are fixed, it is released. If a major bug is fixed, it is probably released sooner. In general, you only have three reasons to upgrade.

    1) The new one has fixed a bug in something you are using. Such as a new USB driver for your widget.

    2) A major security flaw is patched. Which is done way faster (and more publicily) than in most commerical settings.

    3) You enjoy cutting your teeth on new shit. Which would be a lot of us. :)

    I personally usually only upgrade if there is a dangerous remote exploit or for some functionaility. I only upgraded to 2.4.x for iptables and firewire support. Even though the backport of firewire worked fine for me.

  17. Re:I can't wait until XFS is standard... by Adnans · · Score: 3, Informative

    XFS is great. I have it on 2 production servers (rock solid since installation). However, for my workstation I've recently switched (back) to ReiserFS. I do a lot of large compiles and move huge amounts of code around and that exposes the ONLY weak part in XFS: unlink() time. XFS is doog slow for deleting large directory trees. I sure hope they optimize this, soon.. Other than the long rm times, it's rock solid. The ACL ioctls should be sorted out too soon, so we can have access to extended attributes (I will NOT miss you Be, Inc.)....

    -adnans

    --
    "In short: just say NO TO DRUGS, and maybe you won't end up like the Hurd people." --Linus Torvalds
  18. Re:I can't wait until XFS is standard... by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Informative

    My only experience with ReiserFS was on an SMP machine, and it blew chunks (corrupted file system, bad data, kernel panics). I tried XFS and it worked quite well. I've not given Reiser another shot since then (haven't had time). Perhaps they've fixed this bug.

    I like the fact that growing an XFS volume to take up more space is simple, and does not require unmounting the volume (in fact, you CANNOT grow an unmounted XFS volume, you MUST mount it first).

    So, in a system with hot-swap drive bays, you can add a physical volume to the logical volume group, and just tell XFS to grow. Presto - more space.

    I also like the fact that you can move the journal over to another block device. If "you feel the need, the need for speed" you can use a 10MB SCSI battery-backed up SRAM drive for the journal, and a big RAID array for the main storage. Speed and safety in one.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  19. Re:Mirror by Roundeye · · Score: 5, Informative
    Note: always check signatures when downloading software from unknown sources.

    This kernel tarball is identical with the ones being distributed from ftp.us.kernel.org (dynamic mirrors), BUT IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE. A trojaned kernel distributed from a private mirror could compromise any number of systems.

    Always check downloaded files from unknown sources.

    md5sum:
    ftp.us.kernel.org kernel: 8b0f6c18e9c09ca1e5d0bbbed95f7ef2
    ecliptik mirror kernel: 8b0f6c18e9c09ca1e5d0bbbed95f7ef2

    gpg sigs match, using:
    % gpg --verify linux-2.4.9.tar.gz.sign linux-2.4.9.tar.gz

    But -- DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT! CHECK THEM YOURSELF.

    --
    "Cause there's 40 different shades of black, so many fortresses and ways to attack, so why you complainin'?"
  20. FreshMeat by Natalie's+Hot+Grits · · Score: 4, Funny

    For those of you trols that think "Slashdot isn't Fresh Meat" here is my 2cents:

    STFU. When a kernel is released, I want to know about it. and who in their right mind looks at freshmeat every fucking day? NOBODY

    So what is the point in starting a bitch session just to bitch? To waste Bandwidth? To blow time at your job? GIME A BREAK!

    Now I can update my linux boxen tonight, and have a piece of mind that the IDE driver wasnt working correctly in 2.4.7 for me, is noted in the changelog as being fixed.

    have a nice day :)

    --
    Two infinite things: your stupidity and mine. But I'm not sure about the latter. If my sig offends you, I'm sorry.
  21. Re:NTFS filesystem by Haggis+Muncher · · Score: 4, Interesting


    You can fix this by editing "/usr/src/linux/fs/ntfs/unistr.h" and adding the following at line 30:

    #include <linux/kernel.h>

    and then recompiling. I've not bothered to submit an official patch... there's probably dozens already.

    --

    --
    Free Dmitry!
    http://www.freesklyarov.org
  22. Bug in NTFS compilation by the+way · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I just compiled 2.4.9 with read-only support for NTFS. It turns out that there is a small bug that stops it from compiling. To fix the bug, edit fs/ntfs/unistr.c, and add somewhere near the top (line 24 or 25 is fine):

    #include <linux/kernel.h>

  23. I can't wait until XFS is standard... by wowbagger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't wait until SGI gets XFS merged into the main tree. I'm running XFS on all my systems, and so I have to wait until SGI gets the changes merged back into their port.

    XFS (especially when combined with LVM) is great. No fscks, big files, ACLs, and you can grow a mounted file system (great with LVM and hot-swap drives).

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  24. Gigbabyte Mirror Bandwidth by rapett0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://linux.uky.edu/kernel/v2.4/

    This mirror is so fast, it will speed your downloads up, even past your NIC/modem's supposed maximums.

  25. pcmcia-cs is broken with 2.4.9 by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 3, Informative
    fyi - hinds' pcmcia pkg won't build completely with this kernel release (fails on wvlan_hcf.c).

    looks like some dangerous changes were made: I see errors that say macro 'min' used with only 2 args. this kinda scares me...

    as I've not had much luck with wireless support inside the kernel tree, I've taken to using hinds' pkg instead. so for those who use pcmcia, perhaps wait for the next release..

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  26. Re:Real news: glibc-2.2.4 was released today by geirt · · Score: 5, Informative
    Here is the changelog for glibc-2.2.4

    Enjoy

    --

    RFC1925
  27. Re:The problem with frequent kernel releases by garett_spencley · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Some already pointed this out but it was only a minor point in his/her post. It is _the_ point for mine so I will rant entirely about it.

    The only kernel releases that should break applications are the major and minor releases (not the patch/bugfix releases). If you have an app that works with 2.4.7 (for example) and breaks with 2.4.8 then either your app is broken or it's a driver issue where the maintainer fucked up. Which seemed to be what happened to me with Q3A and the SB Live! drivers in 2.4.8. Although I'm not certain wether it's an issue with the drivers or Q3A.

    The patch level releases fix bugs. Sometimes serious bugs. So you should be greatful that they come out as fast as they do. The minor releases (2.2-2.4) only come out every couple of years so I would hardly consider that "Too fast! OMG I can't keep up!".

    </rant>

    --
    Garett

  28. Real news: glibc-2.2.4 was released today by geirt · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't forget that the libc is just as important for your computers stability as the kernel. Most applications go trough the libc to access kernel services. Today glibc-2.2.4 was released, go to your local mirror (yes, that is a gnu mirror, not a kernel mirror) and do the upgrade now.

    Slashdot: News for nerds ?

    Why does the libc get so little publicity compared to the kernel ? I don't get it !

    --

    RFC1925
  29. Re:how many kernels realeased a year? by cowens · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here are the counts by year. Only the release versions are counted because development kernels can run into the hundreds.

    1994 - 10 (1.0.0 - 1.0.9)
    1995 - 14 (1.2.0 - 1.2.13)
    1996 - 28 (2.0.0 - 2.0.27)
    1997 - 6 (2.0.28 - 2.0.33)
    1998 - 3 (2.0.34 - 2.0.36)
    1999 - 2/14 (2.0.37 - 2.0.28 & 2.2.0 - 2.2.13)
    2000 - 5 (2.2.14 - 2.2.18)
    2001 - 1/1/10 (2.0.39 & 2.2.19 & 2.4.0 - 2.4.9)

    avg number of kernels per year: 11.75
    The benefit is that you can have the latest and greatest version now instead of six months from now.