Posted by
timothy
on from the jamie-has-the-munchies dept.
punkmac writes "It's that time again to do the thing we all love to do, compile your shiny new kernel. This time its 2.4.20. The changelog can be found at the usual places, and please use a mirror for all your downloads"
-- Don't give me none of this "nature theme" business.
Be kind to kernel.org
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Don't just use a mirror, get the patch to update your 2.4.19 tree.
Re:Be kind to kernel.org
by
packeteer
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· Score: 4, Insightful
In case you wanna see if you even need the nwe kernel. You can find the changelog here. Dont download it now if you dont need it. there are peopel waiting to use those servers.
Re:Be kind to kernel.org
by
Clue4All
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Why? ISC increased their bandwith from 100 Mbps to 250 Mbps. It rarely reached 90% usage, often during a new Red Hat release. The main site works just fine, and will continue to do so.
Re:Be kind to kernel.org
by
KjetilK
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Hm, I read that they've got a 250 Mbits/s link now, and I was going to respond "hey, let's stress-test it!" But www.kernel.org was very slow to me, in spite of that
Current bandwidth utilization 57.87 Mbit/s
That's actually rather weird, because it is not that uncommon to have that load. If this number is correct, there has to be something wrong with the server. But probably, they are getting more traffic.
Well me? I went directly to a mirror after getting the announcement from the announcement list this morning and downloaded it from there before reading/.
The new kernel fixes the lcall DoS. While I have no untrusted users on my system, things like that is always good to have out of the way.
-- Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
Which brings me to this stupid question. Has anyone considered pushing patches out as GPG-signed binaries in usenet? I mean, jeez, what a way to bump up the "mirrors" list. It seems almost too easy to script up a batch job to harvest binaries from something like a c.o.l.binaries.patches and c.o.l.binaries.patches.kernel. When utwente burned and people were panicking b/c security.debian.org was down for a day or two, it made me think about how to really jack up the mirrors list. I would prefer p2p, but as that get blocked to oblivion, the last great large-scale distribution network is usenet. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people running cron-apt against their news server instead of pointing right at the distribution center.
Re:Be kind to kernel.org
by
RennieScum
·
· Score: 2
Probly because that's their -total- bandwidth capacity, you still have to take into account what their server(s) can push. How often can you transmit a full 100MB/s from your ethernet card? And they've got hundreds of users at a time, which means that even if they've got the King of RAID, it's too busy to push a theoretical max.
I had some timeouts (over a day after the announcement). Just get the patch.
-- ...Time is the best teacher,
unfortunately it kills all of its students.
for all new users to linux...
by
fredopalus
·
· Score: 4, Funny
This may be the latest you've been up on thanksgiving.
Re:Decisions, Decisions...
by
The+Pi-Guy
·
· Score: 4, Funny
What makes you think they won't post it?
*ducks*
*counts to 20, formkeys formkeys formkeeeys*
Re:how long will it be...
by
silvaran
·
· Score: 5, Informative
It's not a matter of "Linux" having service packs. I'm assuming you use a specific distribution. You have to trust that distribution to release updates for your system as necessary. You can't binary patch the Linux kernel, because no binaries are released, only source. Red Hat, for example, has binary releases of the kernel (included in their distribution), but doesn't bother releasing service packs, instead they release updates as they see fit (pretty much the same thing).
I don't quite understand the obsession with using the latest and greatest. I'm not going to grab this and compile it for my machine; a) 2.4.19 works fine and b) I skimmed through the changelog and didn't really see anything that affected my situation, and c) My roommate will scream at me if I take down the server just to update the kernel by a double-point revision.
You mentioned when you update the kernel/compiler it breaks a lot of applications. You'll have to be more specific. I can see problems when migrating from a 2.2 kernel to a 2.4 kernel, or from gcc 2.x to gcc 3.x, but if you use one of the major distributions, this is trivial. The thought of using "service packs" on an open source operating system indicates to me that you don't have a clear handle on the way things work in Linux.
Re:how long will it be...
by
delta407
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Although I am an avid supporter of linux, I have alot of trouble keeping up with the latest version of my principal programs as well as the ever-changing kernal.
Then you would be aware that Linux is the kernel and nothing more. In this instance, your service pack is patch-2.4.20.bz2, and that's it.
installing service packs in windows2000/XP, it updated the kernal and main programs like IE and media player all at once
Here's the thing: Linux doesn't have programs tied into the operating system that much. You could have a running Linux system without using a single GNU tool. As such, proposing service packs for Linux is nonsensical.
but I won't begin to start using [Linux] as my primary OS untill it has service packs.
Linux itself has service packs. Your distribution, on the other hand, is responsible for the rest of the pieces of software on your computer, and each distro has a different means of staying current. RedHat has up2date, Debian has 'apt-get update', and Gentoo has 'emerge -u'. Take your pick.
When's the duplicate show up?
by
Flamesplash
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· Score: 5, Funny
Hmm this isn't that interesting, I think I'll just wait around for the duplicate article post, maybe it'll be more interesting.;)
-- "Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
you can do what I'm about to do and change my/. settings to ignore kernel stuff.
Now, how exactly am I going to change your settings?
Re:how long will it be...
by
Trane+Francks
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I don't quite understand the obsession with using the latest and greatest. I'm not going to grab this and compile it for my machine; a) 2.4.19 works fine
I used to be latest/greatest, but I've discovered that I wind up with a lot more time to do other things when I go with a more basic approach: keep up-to-date with Slackware's security updates.
I'm still running 2.4.18 with a -- *gasp* -- default kernel. I don't even bother compiling 'em for my machine anymore. Too damn lazy.:lol:
Well, I won't need to change your settings, you've already done it.
Re:how long will it be...
by
cranos
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
You raise some good points but I have to say this. Microsoft has the benefit of actually owning the software that they release Service Packs for - from the Kernel to their Web Browser. The same cannot be said for OSS projects.
There is an equivelance to service packs in the Linux world, and that is the distro. If you think about it, each *.* distro is basically a service pack, bringing updated and more robust code in an easy to use package.
Re:how long will it be...
by
Archie+Steel
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· Score: 2
Funny, last time I installed a Windows Service Pack it did not upgrade MS Office nor Photoshop...Upgrading a kernel won't break apps, though you might need to recompile/reinstall certain "module" drivers (NVIDA for example). For an "avid" supporter of Linux, you don't seem very balanced or accurate in your critique of the system. Odd. Of course, you could also be a MS plant trying to sow discord among the faithful...I'm sure there are quite a few around here. Hey, if I had billions to spare I'd sure hire a few people to spread FUD on the web sites associated with the "competition."
#!/bin/sh # ##### # # Linux Update # *Almost* as dangerous as # Windows update # sudo/usr/bin/apt-get -qq update sudo/usr/bin/apt-get -qq -y upgrade
# Save file in/usr/local/bin # chmod o+x filename # Create link on desktop # Name link Linux update # You now have the ability to upgrade your system # with *no* way of controlling what gets put # there! Just as with windows!
2.4.15-greased-turkey, with that nasty sync bug? Wow, quite a bit has changed in the last year.
small VM updates...
by
kinko
·
· Score: 5, Informative
From the changelog....
<hch@lst.de>:
o dump_stack()
o backport yield() and conditional reschedule changes from
o small VM updates from -aa (1/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (2/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (4/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (5/5)
Is this using a Linus definition of small, or a normal definition of small?
Re:small VM updates...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Is this using a Linus definition of small, or a normal definition of small?
It's small because part (3/5) contains all the code.
Re:small VM updates...
by
Blasphemy
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Just a quick reminder that Linus isn't manging the 2.4 tree anymore. He's moved on to the 2.5 tree.
Marcelo Tosatti is managing the 2.4 tree.
Re:small VM updates...
by
kinko
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Yes I do know that. But Linus was maintaining it when they made a "small" change to the VM sub-system that involved gutting the whole thing.
Is this using a Linus definition of small, or a normal definition of small?
I mostly used Linux (Debian) in the past with a little Free and OpenBSD.
After I read an interview with Linus where he was asked about the current Linux kernel versus new BSD and XP features, he said something to the effect of "I haven't really looked much at BSD or XP, but I don't see much of value there".
Which pretty much sounded to me like "I have not looked, I don't see any good".
This was during the times that the VM shamozzle was occuring and my Linux machine was becoming unstable.
This was the point where I decided that Linus was getting a bit arrogant. I am glad though, because my OpenBSD servers are very clean and stable and Theo not only sticks to his moral grounds but also has well thought out moral grounds.
-- War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
For 2.4 series it's not up to Linus what gets merged. Marcelo Tosatti is the maintainer of Linux kernel 2.4 and he's the dictator-for-life of the stable tree.
After I read an interview with Linus where he was asked about the current Linux kernel versus new BSD and XP features, he said something to the effect of "I haven't really looked much at BSD or XP, but I don't see much of value there".
Did you ever think it could be Linus not seeing anything in BSD or XP that he didn't already have under Linux? After all, he's the creator and the guy who came up with the framework.
If you build your own car to suit your needs; why would you want to drive the latest [Ford/GM] incarnation?
Besides that, with all the hub-bub about Billy Gee running his 'switch' campaign on FreeBSD servers, can you imagine if the father of Linux were caught running the OS of one of his "nemeses"?
If he is not going to LOOK at the operating systems in question, then he is in NO position to state that he DOES NOT SEE ANY WORTHWHILE FEATURES in those operating systems.
It's called arrogance.
Of course, if you want to take it absolutely literally, then you could say that he can not see that which he does not look at. But that was not the context. If that is what he meant, then he should have said something along the lines of, "I have not looked at those, so I can't really compare or comment".
This was, by the way, an interview that shortly followed the major VM changes that were occuring within a "stable" kernel branch.
I'm glad it happened though, because my focus has shifted almost completely towards BSD based OS' (Open, Free and OSX) and I am very happy to have done so.
-- War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
Timothy, haven't you learned your lesson and started paying attention to what you're posting already? I mean, you've already done this today and--
Wait a sec...
Oh sorry, I guess I was developing a reflex action.
</humour>
Re:Repeat!
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Funny
American English is akin to Microsoft English. Take a published standard and alter it ever so slightly, but annoyingly, so that documents (applications) have to be rewritten.
I know, I know... Score -1 (Anti-US post)
Re:Important changes?
by
updog
·
· Score: 5, Informative
There was at least one very important change for me personally - support for KT-400 motherboards (by adding support for VIA8235 southbridge). I had gotten 2.4.20-rc3 for this support when I got my new motherboard, but now it's official.
Incedentally, 2.4.19 will sorta work on a KT-400 board, but disk access is really slow because it can't turn on DMA.
Just a point of interest, MS Service packs don't upgrade the media player, web browser, etc..., they update the base install. As a person who is forced to upgrade far too many Windows machines for my mental health, I know that even on windowsupdate.com, these are seperate updates from the service packs.
-- It's been a long time.
Did they fix the new ptrace vulnerability?
by
bigberk
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I haven't tried it myself yet, but I found no reference to this ptrace vulnerability in the changelog. I suspect this is still a problem (it was in 2.4.19).
Re:Did they fix the new ptrace vulnerability?
by
Juergen+Kreileder
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· Score: 4, Informative
I haven't tried it myself yet, but I found no reference to this ptrace vulnerability [google.com] in the changelog. I suspect this is still a problem (it was in 2.4.19).
It was fixed in 2.4.20-rc2, see the "[PATCH] Fix lcall DoS" entry in the ChangeLog or this bk comment (and the corresponding patch).
Oh you mean UML version, we'll check out UML page on sourceforge.
zlib in the kernel?
by
hpavc
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· Score: 2, Interesting
anyone know where i can read about this zlib(compression|decompression) library support? there is some very interesting mentioning of it in./inculde/linux/zlib.h and of course in menuconfig as well.
-- members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
nothing in/usr/src/linux/Documentation where it ought to be.
-- Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Re:zlib in the kernel?
by
Random+Frequency
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· Score: 3, Informative
its used by PPP for packet compression, as well as initial kernel decompression with the zImage target.
Re:zlib in the kernel?
by
TeknoHog
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· Score: 3, Interesting
There is also zisofs -- read-only support of compressed ISO CDs. In read-only systems the compression actually makes sense, because the size does not change, and decompression is much faster than compression. To use these, you need additional tools, probably called mkzisofs.
Unfortunately, many CDs are used to store mp3/ogg/divx and the like, which don't really compress much. So zisofs is not necessarily very useful.
-- Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Ahh, but it is useful for things such as the various distributions LiveCD's, which contain lots of documentation and plain text files along with the increasing number of binaries. for example, the slackware 8.1 live cd squeezes 1.3GB+ of data onto a 650MB cd using zisofs.
For anyone using reiserfs
by
Xpilot
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· Score: 5, Interesting
There is a significant patch that speeds up write operations for large files on IDE drives by up to 15%. This made it in v2.4.20-pre6.
-- "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
Re:For anyone using reiserfs
by
kinri
·
· Score: 3, Informative
2.4.20-pre6 came out before 2.4.20-rc4 === 2.4.19 was released
I tend to use the prebuild debian kernel images too. I do occasionally compile a 2.5 kernel but it really isn't worth it that much. When the 2.4.20 kernel enters SID my computer will automatically download and install it during an update.
I have a self compiled 2.5.44 kernel, but... you're right it really isn't worth the time it takes to configure, compile, and possibly try again.
-- X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
I couldn't find any notes about USB. I usually have problems when I try to mount a memory stick on my Sony Clie on Linux (system freezes... nothing can be done except hard reboot, can't even ssh/telnet into the box). Anyone had any similar problems?
do you have a *pure* USB box? I have one of those 7-USB port PCs with not ONE other type of I/O connector on it, and at boot, I get slammed with kbd timeouts for about two minutes before it settles down and takes me to a login.
I couldn't find any notes about USB. I usually have problems when I try to mount a memory stick on my Sony Clie on Linux (system freezes... nothing can be done except hard reboot, can't even ssh/telnet into the box). Anyone had any similar problems?
Reading and installing the patch from the pointers from here changed everything for me. Re-compiled the kernel just 2 days ago. Also generally, if you want to get the latest out of your usb in Linux, I have noticed that linux-usb.org has it first (or atleast soon).
Re:I'll wait for 2.4.20-ac1 or -ac2. :)
by
darketernal
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· Score: 5, Informative
You do realize 2.4.20-rc4 was released as 2.4.20 without any changes. Hence, 2.4.20-rc4-ac1 is the -ac1 that you are looking for:)
No more printers on fire?
by
xercist
·
· Score: 5, Funny
just reading through the changelog...
Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk): ...
* replace end user confusing "on fire" joke with real info ...
We've just lost the best part of our kernel!
--
--
grep "xercist"/dev/random...you'll find me in there someday
Re:No more printers on fire?
by
Jugalator
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· Score: 2
Gaah! Hmm... But what was the actual, "real", error then?
-- Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Re:No more printers on fire?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I do not think it was originally a joke. Older printers used to give that error message when they got a paper jam. The paper would then get hot enough from the friction of whatever was trying to roll it through would cause a fire, and thus by the time the user got the error message the printer would be on fire.
Eh, I guess it still in a way was a joke, but a joke based more on reality. Of course now, that is just preposterious, but eh whatever.
How is this impressive?
by
7-Vodka
·
· Score: 4, Funny
I've released a total of 0 kernels so far and I intend to release a total of 0 more kernels for the next many many months to come. By your rating Linus' got nothin on me:)
--
Liberty.
Re:That's all well and good, but is this really ne
by
Moloch666
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I continue to wonder why every kernel release some one must complain why it isn't news or express how they don't care. Slashdot does not revolve around you, although by tweaking some of your preferences you can get it close.
-- Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
Re:Linux is truely impressing me now...
by
Webmonger
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Shakedown. All kernels take a while to mature. 2.4 took longer than most.
-- Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
use the mirrors to download the changelog
by
mansoft
·
· Score: 4, Funny
With changes such as "fixed typo in whatever.c" or "It didn't compile because a semicolon was missing, so I added it", we'll soon need to create ISO images for the changelogs...
Re:use the mirrors to download the changelog
by
suwain_2
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
What I've always wondered is this -- don't they notice that their program doesn't compile, and fix it before releasing it? It's easy to forget a semicolon on the end of a line, but I can't say I've ever released a program that had fatal compile errors. Is there something behind the scenes I'm missing?
-- ________________________________________________
suwain_2:: quality slashdot p
".Duh!!! IF YOUr computer crashed, then how did u POST this comment! Lame attempt at a joke."
Hi, ComicBook Guy, how are you?
-- "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy
way to factor large prime numbers."
Bill Gates,
Re:Apparently
by
mysticalreaper
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Uhm... are you SURE? You sure it's not the new 2.5 development kernel you're talking about? Cause i think if you looked into it, you'd realize that all these massive changes you mentioned, improving threading, I/O, VM and the rest are changes happening in the 2.5 kernel. They are major changes, and very significant. But they're happening in 2.5.
This release is just an incremental release. Bugfixes here, added support there... no major changes, just evolutionary changes.
Good to see the mods are looking for informative comments... however, it's sad when they mod up comments that don't reflect the facts.
Broken USB mouse support fixed?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Anybody know if this version fixes USB optical mouse support which seems to have been broken for some users with 2.4.19? (Yes, I've checked groups.google.com and know about enabling CONFIG_USB_HIDINPUT but this does NOT help). It seems Red Hat 7.3 users were affected, as well as Mandrake (although I know only what broke for me -- RH 7.3). Thank god my optical usb mouse had a usb->psmouse converter plug which I'm using as a temporary workaround.
Did they fix these showstopper bugs in 2.4.20?
by
linefeed0
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· Score: 2, Interesting
There is at least one nasty VM-related bug which has been reported in Linux 2.4.19 and possibly earlier revisions. Rumors of more abound; this is the one that's personally happened to me.
Kernel BUG at page_alloc.c:91! (kills kswapd) Google groups for "page_alloc.c:91". Usually blamed on NVidia drivers but notable cases have occurred without them. It's not clear whether the kernel team has made a notable effort to debug them, but they are real and occur on a variety of systems. When this happens kswapd stops working, which causes more bugs later on, and eventually a system reboot is required.
There are other period reports of BUGs being flagged with an otherwise normal kernel on the linux-kernel list.
Re:Did they fix these showstopper bugs in 2.4.20?
by
SpaceLifeForm
·
· Score: 2
Periodic.
The description of this problem sure sounds
like Windows behaviour.
-- You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
The great thing about open source:
by
achurch
·
· Score: 5, Funny
He's trying to get a promotion by causing more freezes than General Protection Fault.
Re:Important changes?
by
thesadmac
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I beleive the reiserfs write_file function was added to the reiserfs filesystem. This speeds up writing large files on a reiserfs formatted volume. Which on my boxes is every partition except/boot and swap.
Tips on testing your new kernel
by
goingware
·
· Score: 5, Informative
You should thoroughly test your new kernel before putting it into production. Even if the kernel works well for everyone else, you could personally discover a new bug. You could save yourself a lot of pain by testing first, as well as help the kernel developers.
A while back I wrote a couple articles on Linux kernel testing:
The Open Source Development Lab kindly provides Japanese translations
here.
(The articles are under the GNU Free Documentation License. I would be quite stoked if you copied or translated them. There are articles on other quality topics
here.)
Absolutely and with debian if you stick apt-get update apt-get upgrade
as a weekly.... or daily.... cron-job
Argh. Don't do that. Really. You know those annoying questions that the upgrade process asks you? That is because the user is supposed to be
smarter than... Oh. Nevermind. Sorry I brought
it up:-)
How to get patches accepted?
by
caluml
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
[PATCH] : sock_writable not appropriate for TCP sockets
hi marcelo-
[ i sent this patch August 30 against 20-pre5, and it appears to have been
dropped. this is an important performance fix that should be included in
2.4.20. i apologize for not tracking this more closely. ]
sock_writeable determines whether there is space in a socket's output
buffer. socket write_space callbacks use it to determine whether to wake
up those that are waiting for more output buffer space.
however, sock_writeable is not appropriate for TCP sockets. because the
RPC client's write_space callback uses it for TCP sockets, the RPC layer
hammers on sock_sendmsg with dozens of write requests that are only a few
hundred bytes long when it is trying to send a large write RPC request.
this patch adds logic to the RPC layer's write_space callback that
properly handles TCP sockets.
patch reviewed by Trond, Alexey, and DaveM, and already accepted in 2.5.
I wonder if I can get the name changed from Linux to Evilix by sending a patch to Marcelo and just mentioning that Trond, Alexey and DaveM have reviewed it and it's already in 2.5...;)
DMCA Violations
by
12dec0de
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
As some people here on slashdot (an article IIRC) hinted at patches in 2.4.20 being in possible violation with the DMCA, and hence waiting to release.20, I guess these are all either cleaned up by now or not in the patch at all.
Can somebody give me a pointer to information on the actual problems and the resolution as well?
IIRC, it wasn't so much the patch itself that was in violation of the DMCA (Dilbertized Merkin Copyright Anomaly) as the description of the problem. So I can't describe it to you, but if you *aren't* American, you can safely click on this link, which will tell you. (Read & click-through the licence/disclaimer, then pick it off the drop-down menu thingy. Yeah, it sucks, but so does a copyright law that prevents people from fully documenting software bugs. Sorta like the evening news in some places--"Scientists think this common household substance could kill you! We'll tell you more on Channel 11's News at Eleven!")
Re:Is VIA KT400 (8377+8235) finally supported?
by
Brissie_lad
·
· Score: 3, Informative
8235 support is in,
vojtech_suse.cz
[PATCH] Add vt8235 support
Hi!
This patch adds support for the vt8235. Marcelo, please apply it to current 2.4.20 rc. It doesn't break anything, basically adds an entry to the table of supported devices. Thanks.
If you do a search of the changelog for 8235 you'll find it.
-- Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
Re:Seriously - 486-33
by
Brissie_lad
·
· Score: 2, Informative
i386 support is still there, those i586/i686 distro's are just that, distro's.
I've got an old (circa 1991) 486-DX25 machine here that I'm going to play around with as soon as I can dig up an old ISA NIC.
-- Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
Windows compatible now...
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Funny
o drivers/net/eepro100.c: simplify wait_for_cmd_done(), better errors
I bet a few portscanners would have fun with that one. However, there are other ways to deal with that sort of thing, AFAIK.
I'm happy with my 2.4.19 on my SMP boxes, and I didn't notice any bugfixes that I just *have* to have. Well, I *did* add kernel-pre-empt and the (0)1 patches as soon as they came out....
*sigh* Looks like I'm gonna wait for 2.6, I bet that one really rocks!
Actually I have a 486/25 in the corner here... I bet it would be good for a LFS (linux from scratch) install, since the whole thing would only be maybe 150Mb...
Hrmmm, excuse me, I've got to log off and try that one out.
PS. I meant to post the LinuxQuality links as MichaelCrawford, but I used a different computer that still had a cookie that logged me in as goingware. I want to be known online by my own name now.
No problem... writing isn't easy, most of my friends and family do it, some for a living.
The slashdot crowd is interesting and harsh in its own way; thousands of people and thousands of viewpoints view and judge what you say. Even in this admittedly non-objective forum, it took me 6 months of effort to get my first story posted, and there were plenty of "flames" in response to it.
So, carry on, and I wish you good luck!
ps: my own site is embarrassingly out-of date and soon to be updated (next 72 hours) but here's a link to it: http://steigenlinux.org I'm especially proud of the "Documentation" page
Having read both the changelog and searched the kernel archives it's interesting to note that way back in 2.4.20-pre3 the Athlon MP/XP prefetch bug work around was pulled out of the kernel.
Subsiquently, Alan Cox in the kernel mailing list archives responds to someone asking about this and says that he thinks some of the VM changes have fixed at least the AGP problems but not the mmap ones, to quote:-
-ac has it removed. I didn't know Marcelo had it removed. Andi Kleen has
a patch for doing most of the right things without trashing performance.
That may be what Marcelo merged. It fixed AGP but not O_SYNC mmap I
believe
this was posted on the 17th August and there's no further mention of the problem as far as I can see.
If this hasn't been fixed in the full 2.4.20 release then there is no way I can install this kernel on our three dual processor Athlon MP boxes we use for mathematical simulations as the machines need to be able to run for many weeks on the problems and hence have to be rock-solid stable.
Does anyone know if the new VM fixes fully fix the Athlon MP/XP problems?
I've been programming for a long time. I'm good at it, and I suppose if I really put some time into coding for a Free Software project, I could do a lot of good.
But most of my contribution to Free Software has really been in the form of writing. I have also written a lot of stuff which is not copylefted, but posted publicly on the web.
here some more as well as
this.
I have contributed some to
zoolib, but that's mostly in the form of qa, project management (for the initial open source release) and marketing.
One reason I prefer to contribute by writing is that my normal programming work is so hard, that when I get time to take a break from it, it's difficult to work up much enthusiasm to write more code, no matter how fun the project might be. I imagine that's a common problem.
Another reason is that I feel that any contribution I could make to Free Software, at least in the limited time I have, would be small. I could fix some bugs, add some features, do some testing. But how many people would benefit from my personal contribution? I don't think that many would, at least not until I had the time to develop a really serious package, and I just don't have the energy for that. I have lots of ideas, but no time.
But I feel that passing on my experience by writing can benefit others far out of proportion to the effort I put in. That is because I aim my writing to enable others to do better. By writing well, I enable many other developers to code a little better, and many users to do better testing and bug reporting.
I could lead by example by writing good code, but how many people would learn by reading it? When's the last time you studied the source for some package you weren't really actively involved with? Prose is much more accessible.
This is all the more important because so few engineers of any sort are good writers. When my father was a civilian electrical engineer for the Navy, the shipyard sent him to a writing class so he could write better test plans! The man has a master's degree! But the Navy put lots of people through that class because so many of their engineers didn't know how to write.
What is funny is that I find writing much more difficult than programming. With software, you know when you're wrong. It's not always so clear with writing. The main reason I write so well is because most of my effort is put into editing - and I still find lots of mistakes later.
Even more ironic is that I used to hate writing with a passion. One major reason is that I have terrible handwriting - I can't read my own handwriting, and can't imagine how anyone else could. But the schools always used to require handwritten essays. They used to send me to remedial handwriting classes, which I really hated because they made my hand hurt. It's painful for me to write much by hand.
What did it for me was two things - a composition class I took at the community college during the summer when I was sixteen, that was just really well taught, and being able to type. I type really fast now, and there's no pain.
My senior year Advanced Placement English Teacher asked me to drop the class because of my poor handwriting. He was quite taken aback when I started screaming at him. I'd had enough of teachers criticizing my handwriting, I didn't need to hear it again when I was seventeen years old.
He was concerned that I couldn't pass the exam (which could get me college credit) because the judges wouldn't be able to read my essays.
He proposed a compromise. He suggested that I block print.
I had no problem with that. And at the exam at the end of the year, I turned in my exam neatly block-printed in all capital letters. I just used bigger capitals for where a capital was really required.
I was the only student in my school that year to get a 5 on the english AP exam (a perfect score).
mirrors and P2P
by
silence535
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
..can be found at the usual places, and please use a mirror for all your downloads"
Apologies if this has been discussed before and I missed it. (If so, ignore and silently send me the link to the discussion please.)
Why don't the kernel guys distribute the kernel sources over the well established P2P networks to reduce load on their servers and to speed up downloads for everyone?
I mean, why not put it into the donkey and publish the e2k link on the official kernel.org web page and also submit it to the sharereactor?
MD5 or other hashing can guarantee that the official release has not been tampered with.
Happily (running a 2.4.19pre) I tried
our local official mirror "ftp.de.kernel.org".
Nope, no 2.4.20 there.:-( So at least
I fetched the.19 patch.
This is just sad. I don't want
to hit the master "ftp.kernel.org" over and over
again and won't do it, but can't they wait
at least with the announcement until
most of the official mirrors
have caught up?
10000 people hitting "ftp.kernel.org" now -
this doesn't have to happen but it is on nearly
every kernel release. This leads the whole
mirror concept ad absurdum on every release.
Disclaimer: I don't need
2.4.20 "within the next days", but as many others
I like to hack around with new stuff, so if
it is announced, I want to fiddle with it.:-)
Thanks for the "country mirrors
are round-robin" trick. This was neither
obvious nor documented.
This is against what you'd expect connecting
to an FTP server, though (if you connect to
an FTP server by-name, you shouldn't have to
care about it being different hosts with
different content, IMHO).
However, I fetched my.19-.20 patch
from "ftp.kernel.org" now. I really isn't
worth the hassle with obscured country
mirrors, sorry. And the server seemed
to handle the load today quite nice
(I won't start speculating about
traffic costs.)
("ftp.kernel.org" was FAST, even for those
~4MB.)
It still seems to me that the current
FTP kernel distribution system isn't
well-organized. (Official) announcements
should go out afterallofficial
mirrors got the file (this or "servers got 6 hours
to catch up, now we publish").
This won't help against Slashdot announcing
it, but it's The Right Thing To Do anyway.
And I'd strongly suggest to stay away
from DNS round-robin for country-level
FTP load-balancing. This is prone to cause trouble.
-- 42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
EXT3 may be broken
by
Xua
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Here is a link with some info about it. Now much though...
But here where I work one guy tried 2.4.20 on his Mandrake 9.0 (I cannot confirm that he did everything right though), but his / partition got completely corrupted. Same thing after fresh install and new kernel install.
Re:Decisions, Decisions...
by
SpaceLifeForm
·
· Score: 2
Yep. I run two kernel compiles simultaneously to
warm up the room.
-- You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Re:How do you extract..
by
Brissie_lad
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Have a look in/boot for a Config* file, or if you have the source that came with the stock Suse kernel have a look for a.config file, if you find one or the other copy it to/usr/src/linux-2.4.20 as.config and do "make oldconfig" instead of "make menuconfig".
Re:how long will it be...
by
Archie+Steel
·
· Score: 2
Are you sure it's not the compiler? I have had the same problem with VMWare, but I have a feeling it's not the kernel that's at fault, but rather gcc 3.X (which they say is not supported). Not that I really care, now that Codeweaver's Crossover runs Office and Quicken, I don't use VMWare anymore.
P.S. Ferme ta gueule de merde, sale enculé.
--
Reminder: find a new sig
If this isn't a bad characterization of slashdot:
by
Junks+Jerzey
·
· Score: 2
It's that time again to do the thing we all love to do, compile your shiny new kernel. This time its 2.4.20.
I always post in HTML. But sometimes the little menu below the text entry box that allows me to select "HTML formatted" is set to "plain old text" and I don't notice.
The bug is partially that slashdot doesn't seem to always remember the way I like to post, and partially that it doesn't notice I have already entered <p> tags and it goes ahead and enters its own markup anyway.
You would think that if a post contained markup, that "plain old text" would either strip out the markup, escape it as entities, or flip the selection to "HTML formatted" and not add markup of its own, but it doesn't do any of that. Instead, it enters paragraph breaks on top of the ones I already have, and so you get the widely spaced posts.
Lots of other people get this problem too, not just me.
VESA Local Bus
by
Zymurgy
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Reading the changelog, I was just happy to see they updated the drivers for the Adaptec AHA-2840 VLB SCSI controller and the SMC 91C92 Ethernet chip, which is found on my VESA Local Bus Ethernet cards. Ah, I'm thrilled because I just so happen to be building a file server right now that uses both.
Hey, you can't tell me I'm the only person in here who uses the VESA Local Bus on his servers!!!
ok, so what did I screw up?...
by
fudgefactor7
·
· Score: 2
After comple and install modules.dep is missing in/lib/modules/2.4.20 (for that matter/lib/modules/2.4.20 is missing entirely.) Everything works (so far), so I'm not too worried about it, but can I just copy the dep file from 2.4.18 to 2.4.20? Or is that a really bad idea? In other words, what's up with that?
Nope, bad idea... not everyone has access to usenet included in their isp package.
For instance, I havent been able to find an isp in my area that would give me usenet... And im definetely not paying an additional 10usd+ a month just to get 3 times more spam along with the occasionaly interesting discussion thread.
I fear we will just have to wait for p2p networks to evolve a bit more... and for bandwith to cheapen a lot more...
-- No sig for the moment.
Re: Usenet as p2p tool...
by
LinuxHam
·
· Score: 2
newzbot.com - lets you search for open NNTP servers by various criteria including newsgroup name. Everyone does indeed have usenet access, provided 119 outbound isn't blocked by the ISP.
Besides, my proposal wasn't to read the newsgroups and cut and paste the kernel patches like what you see today.. just develop a standard way to post binaries to some new comp.os.linux.binaries.patches[.kernel] groups and harvest them. If apt (or rpm, or buildkernel) was to get a standard way to harvest usenet binaries and cryptographically verify them, then kernel patches could be distributed by someone on a 56k modem instead of a 250Mbit pipe.
Comcast (at least in my area, and I'm 20 miles from corporate hq) blocks all my outbound p2p connections at their routers. And that's the biggest fish in the pond. It's going to get a lot worse from here for everyone. Easy-to-use p2p is on the way out, but Usenet isn't going anywhere.
About Comcast, sorry to hear that, but if it makes you feel better let me tell you that there's also a disadvantage on having an isp that has all ports open... Mine is 'prodigy.net.mx' an infamous spammer haven.
Slashdot Mirror
...already downloaded, and already compiled. With 2 minutes of testing, I can garantee that this is the best one ever...
Why did I post this? Ask me now!
As snow is falling
A new kernel is released.
Truly, it is good.
A tree, bare of leaves.
A kernel, being released.
Note nature tie-in.
Don't give me none of this "nature theme" business.
Don't just use a mirror, get the patch to update your 2.4.19 tree.
This may be the latest you've been up on thanksgiving.
Jonahweb.com has stuff.
What makes you think they won't post it?
*ducks*
*counts to 20, formkeys formkeys formkeeeys*
It's not a matter of "Linux" having service packs. I'm assuming you use a specific distribution. You have to trust that distribution to release updates for your system as necessary. You can't binary patch the Linux kernel, because no binaries are released, only source. Red Hat, for example, has binary releases of the kernel (included in their distribution), but doesn't bother releasing service packs, instead they release updates as they see fit (pretty much the same thing).
I don't quite understand the obsession with using the latest and greatest. I'm not going to grab this and compile it for my machine; a) 2.4.19 works fine and b) I skimmed through the changelog and didn't really see anything that affected my situation, and c) My roommate will scream at me if I take down the server just to update the kernel by a double-point revision.
You mentioned when you update the kernel/compiler it breaks a lot of applications. You'll have to be more specific. I can see problems when migrating from a 2.2 kernel to a 2.4 kernel, or from gcc 2.x to gcc 3.x, but if you use one of the major distributions, this is trivial. The thought of using "service packs" on an open source operating system indicates to me that you don't have a clear handle on the way things work in Linux.
Here's the thing: Linux doesn't have programs tied into the operating system that much. You could have a running Linux system without using a single GNU tool. As such, proposing service packs for Linux is nonsensical.
Linux itself has service packs. Your distribution, on the other hand, is responsible for the rest of the pieces of software on your computer, and each distro has a different means of staying current. RedHat has up2date, Debian has 'apt-get update', and Gentoo has 'emerge -u'. Take your pick.
Hmm this isn't that interesting, I think I'll just wait around for the duplicate article post, maybe it'll be more interesting. ;)
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
I'll smoke a bowl for its release!
you can do what I'm about to do and change my /. settings to ignore kernel stuff.
Now, how exactly am I going to change your settings?
I'm still running 2.4.18 with a -- *gasp* -- default kernel. I don't even bother compiling 'em for my machine anymore. Too damn lazy.
Well, I won't need to change your settings, you've already done it.
You raise some good points but I have to say this. Microsoft has the benefit of actually owning the software that they release Service Packs for - from the Kernel to their Web Browser. The same cannot be said for OSS projects.
There is an equivelance to service packs in the Linux world, and that is the distro. If you think about it, each *.* distro is basically a service pack, bringing updated and more robust code in an easy to use package.
Funny, last time I installed a Windows Service Pack it did not upgrade MS Office nor Photoshop...Upgrading a kernel won't break apps, though you might need to recompile/reinstall certain "module" drivers (NVIDA for example). For an "avid" supporter of Linux, you don't seem very balanced or accurate in your critique of the system. Odd. Of course, you could also be a MS plant trying to sow discord among the faithful...I'm sure there are quite a few around here. Hey, if I had billions to spare I'd sure hire a few people to spread FUD on the web sites associated with the "competition."
Reminder: find a new sig
#!/bin/sh /usr/bin/apt-get -qq update /usr/bin/apt-get -qq -y upgrade
/usr/local/bin
#
#####
#
# Linux Update
# *Almost* as dangerous as
# Windows update
#
sudo
sudo
# Save file in
# chmod o+x filename
# Create link on desktop
# Name link Linux update
# You now have the ability to upgrade your system
# with *no* way of controlling what gets put
# there! Just as with windows!
---- Sig. gone.
2.4.15-greased-turkey, with that nasty sync bug? Wow, quite a bit has changed in the last year.
From the changelog....
<hch@lst.de>:
o dump_stack()
o backport yield() and conditional reschedule changes from
o small VM updates from -aa (1/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (2/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (4/5)
o small VM updates from -aa (5/5)
Is this using a Linus definition of small, or a normal definition of small?
Every single major linux distribution I've tried in the last two years has had an update tool. Just use that.
It's been a long time.
Wait a sec...
Oh sorry, I guess I was developing a reflex action.
</humour>
There was at least one very important change for me personally - support for KT-400 motherboards (by adding support for VIA8235 southbridge). I had gotten 2.4.20-rc3 for this support when I got my new motherboard, but now it's official.
Incedentally, 2.4.19 will sorta work on a KT-400 board, but disk access is really slow because it can't turn on DMA.
I don't know what the slashdot editors are on today. This has already been covered here and here and here.
Wait a minute. Do those funny little numbers after the name actually mean something? Oh well, nevermind.
Just a point of interest, MS Service packs don't upgrade the media player, web browser, etc..., they update the base install. As a person who is forced to upgrade far too many Windows machines for my mental health, I know that even on windowsupdate.com, these are seperate updates from the service packs.
It's been a long time.
I haven't tried it myself yet, but I found no reference to this ptrace vulnerability in the changelog. I suspect this is still a problem (it was in 2.4.19).
Where can I download the windows version?
Read reviews of shopping cart software
anyone know where i can read about this zlib(compression|decompression) library support? there is some very interesting mentioning of it in ./inculde/linux/zlib.h and of course in menuconfig as well.
members are seeing something, your seeing an ad
There is a significant patch that speeds up write operations for large files on IDE drives by up to 15%. This made it in v2.4.20-pre6.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
I tend to use the prebuild debian kernel images too. I do occasionally compile a 2.5 kernel but it really isn't worth it that much. When the 2.4.20 kernel enters SID my computer will automatically download and install it during an update.
I have a self compiled 2.5.44 kernel, but... you're right it really isn't worth the time it takes to configure, compile, and possibly try again.
X(7): A program for managing terminal windows. See also screen(1).
I couldn't find any notes about USB. I usually have problems when I try to mount a memory stick on my Sony Clie on Linux (system freezes... nothing can be done except hard reboot, can't even ssh/telnet into the box). Anyone had any similar problems?
Je ne parle pas francais.
Reading and installing the patch from the pointers from here changed everything for me. Re-compiled the kernel just 2 days ago. Also generally, if you want to get the latest out of your usb in Linux, I have noticed that linux-usb.org has it first (or atleast soon).
You do realize 2.4.20-rc4 was released as 2.4.20 without any changes. Hence, 2.4.20-rc4-ac1 is the -ac1 that you are looking for :)
Don't you remember that "reefer madness" video?
How will you type with your hands shaking like that?
Unable to hit the enter key and start compiling... The horror... the horror.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
just my $2*10^-2.00
Liberty.
just reading through the changelog...
...
...
Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk):
* replace end user confusing "on fire" joke with real info
We've just lost the best part of our kernel!
--
grep "xercist"
I've released a total of 0 kernels so far and I intend to release a total of 0 more kernels for the next many many months to come. By your rating Linus' got nothin on me :)
Liberty.
I continue to wonder why every kernel release some one must complain why it isn't news or express how they don't care. Slashdot does not revolve around you, although by tweaking some of your preferences you can get it close.
Understanding is a three-edged sword. -- Kosh Naranek
Shakedown. All kernels take a while to mature. 2.4 took longer than most.
How is this Informative? This is common sense.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
With changes such as "fixed typo in whatever.c" or "It didn't compile because a semicolon was missing, so I added it", we'll soon need to create ISO images for the changelogs...
Engage!
This kernel perfectly works. I just installed it and it didn't cra
{{.sig}}
Uhm... are you SURE? You sure it's not the new 2.5 development kernel you're talking about? Cause i think if you looked into it, you'd realize that all these massive changes you mentioned, improving threading, I/O, VM and the rest are changes happening in the 2.5 kernel. They are major changes, and very significant. But they're happening in 2.5.
This release is just an incremental release. Bugfixes here, added support there... no major changes, just evolutionary changes.
Good to see the mods are looking for informative comments... however, it's sad when they mod up comments that don't reflect the facts.
Anybody know if this version fixes USB optical mouse support which seems to have been broken for some users with 2.4.19? (Yes, I've checked groups.google.com and know about enabling CONFIG_USB_HIDINPUT but this does NOT help). It seems Red Hat 7.3 users were affected, as well as Mandrake (although I know only what broke for me -- RH 7.3).
Thank god my optical usb mouse had a usb->psmouse converter plug which I'm using as a temporary workaround.
There is at least one nasty VM-related bug which has been reported in Linux 2.4.19 and possibly earlier revisions. Rumors of more abound; this is the one that's personally happened to me.
Kernel BUG at page_alloc.c:91! (kills kswapd)
Google groups for "page_alloc.c:91". Usually blamed on NVidia drivers but notable cases have occurred without them. It's not clear whether the kernel team has made a notable effort to debug them, but they are real and occur on a variety of systems. When this happens kswapd stops working, which causes more bugs later on, and eventually a system reboot is required.
There are other period reports of BUGs being flagged with an otherwise normal kernel on the linux-kernel list.
Here's a patch to put it back.
I beleive the reiserfs write_file function was added to the reiserfs filesystem. This speeds up writing large files on a reiserfs formatted volume. Which on my boxes is every partition except /boot and swap.
A while back I wrote a couple articles on Linux kernel testing:
-
Why We Should All Test the New Linux Kernel
-
Using Test Suites to Validate the Linux Kernel
The Open Source Development Lab kindly provides Japanese translations here.(The articles are under the GNU Free Documentation License. I would be quite stoked if you copied or translated them. There are articles on other quality topics here.)
-- Could you use my software consulting serv
[PATCH] : sock_writable not appropriate for TCP sockets
hi marcelo-
[ i sent this patch August 30 against 20-pre5, and it appears to have been dropped. this is an important performance fix that should be included in 2.4.20. i apologize for not tracking this more closely. ]
sock_writeable determines whether there is space in a socket's output buffer. socket write_space callbacks use it to determine whether to wake up those that are waiting for more output buffer space.
however, sock_writeable is not appropriate for TCP sockets. because the RPC client's write_space callback uses it for TCP sockets, the RPC layer hammers on sock_sendmsg with dozens of write requests that are only a few hundred bytes long when it is trying to send a large write RPC request. this patch adds logic to the RPC layer's write_space callback that properly handles TCP sockets.
patch reviewed by Trond, Alexey, and DaveM, and already accepted in 2.5.
I wonder if I can get the name changed from Linux to Evilix by sending a patch to Marcelo and just mentioning that Trond, Alexey and DaveM have reviewed it and it's already in 2.5...
Get your own free personal location tracker
As some people here on slashdot (an article IIRC) hinted at patches in 2.4.20 being in possible violation with the DMCA, and hence waiting to release .20, I guess these are all either cleaned up by now or not in the patch at all.
Can somebody give me a pointer to information on the actual problems and the resolution as well?
8235 support is in,
vojtech_suse.cz
[PATCH] Add vt8235 support
Hi!
This patch adds support for the vt8235. Marcelo, please apply it to current 2.4.20 rc. It doesn't break anything, basically adds an entry to the table of supported devices.
Thanks.
If you do a search of the changelog for 8235 you'll find it.
Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
i386 support is still there, those i586/i686 distro's are just that, distro's.
I've got an old (circa 1991) 486-DX25 machine here that I'm going to play around with as soon as I can dig up an old ISA NIC.
Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
o drivers/net/eepro100.c: simplify wait_for_cmd_done(), better errors
hrmmmm.... "ignore SYN with RST set."
I bet a few portscanners would have fun with that one. However, there are other ways to deal with that sort of thing, AFAIK.
I'm happy with my 2.4.19 on my SMP boxes, and I didn't notice any bugfixes that I just *have* to have. Well, I *did* add kernel-pre-empt and the (0)1 patches as soon as they came out....
*sigh* Looks like I'm gonna wait for 2.6, I bet that one really rocks!
C|N>K
Actually I have a 486/25 in the corner here... I bet it would be good for a LFS (linux from scratch) install, since the whole thing would only be maybe 150Mb... Hrmmm, excuse me, I've got to log off and try that one out.
C|N>K
I work hard to write good articles. Some are very difficult to write, and take a lot of time. But I believe in doing well by doing good.
PS. I meant to post the LinuxQuality links as MichaelCrawford, but I used a different computer that still had a cookie that logged me in as goingware. I want to be known online by my own name now.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Subsiquently, Alan Cox in the kernel mailing list archives responds to someone asking about this and says that he thinks some of the VM changes have fixed at least the AGP problems but not the mmap ones, to quote:-
-ac has it removed. I didn't know Marcelo had it removed. Andi Kleen has a patch for doing most of the right things without trashing performance. That may be what Marcelo merged. It fixed AGP but not O_SYNC mmap I believe
this was posted on the 17th August and there's no further mention of the problem as far as I can see.
If this hasn't been fixed in the full 2.4.20 release then there is no way I can install this kernel on our three dual processor Athlon MP boxes we use for mathematical simulations as the machines need to be able to run for many weeks on the problems and hence have to be rock-solid stable.
Does anyone know if the new VM fixes fully fix the Athlon MP/XP problems?
Agrajag: "Oh no, not again!"
But most of my contribution to Free Software has really been in the form of writing. I have also written a lot of stuff which is not copylefted, but posted publicly on the web. here some more as well as this.
I have contributed some to zoolib, but that's mostly in the form of qa, project management (for the initial open source release) and marketing.
One reason I prefer to contribute by writing is that my normal programming work is so hard, that when I get time to take a break from it, it's difficult to work up much enthusiasm to write more code, no matter how fun the project might be. I imagine that's a common problem.
Another reason is that I feel that any contribution I could make to Free Software, at least in the limited time I have, would be small. I could fix some bugs, add some features, do some testing. But how many people would benefit from my personal contribution? I don't think that many would, at least not until I had the time to develop a really serious package, and I just don't have the energy for that. I have lots of ideas, but no time.
But I feel that passing on my experience by writing can benefit others far out of proportion to the effort I put in. That is because I aim my writing to enable others to do better. By writing well, I enable many other developers to code a little better, and many users to do better testing and bug reporting.
I could lead by example by writing good code, but how many people would learn by reading it? When's the last time you studied the source for some package you weren't really actively involved with? Prose is much more accessible.
This is all the more important because so few engineers of any sort are good writers. When my father was a civilian electrical engineer for the Navy, the shipyard sent him to a writing class so he could write better test plans! The man has a master's degree! But the Navy put lots of people through that class because so many of their engineers didn't know how to write.
What is funny is that I find writing much more difficult than programming. With software, you know when you're wrong. It's not always so clear with writing. The main reason I write so well is because most of my effort is put into editing - and I still find lots of mistakes later.
Even more ironic is that I used to hate writing with a passion. One major reason is that I have terrible handwriting - I can't read my own handwriting, and can't imagine how anyone else could. But the schools always used to require handwritten essays. They used to send me to remedial handwriting classes, which I really hated because they made my hand hurt. It's painful for me to write much by hand.
What did it for me was two things - a composition class I took at the community college during the summer when I was sixteen, that was just really well taught, and being able to type. I type really fast now, and there's no pain.
My senior year Advanced Placement English Teacher asked me to drop the class because of my poor handwriting. He was quite taken aback when I started screaming at him. I'd had enough of teachers criticizing my handwriting, I didn't need to hear it again when I was seventeen years old.
He was concerned that I couldn't pass the exam (which could get me college credit) because the judges wouldn't be able to read my essays.
He proposed a compromise. He suggested that I block print.
I had no problem with that. And at the exam at the end of the year, I turned in my exam neatly block-printed in all capital letters. I just used bigger capitals for where a capital was really required.
I was the only student in my school that year to get a 5 on the english AP exam (a perfect score).
Request your free CD of my piano music.
..can be found at the usual places, and please use a mirror for all your downloads"
Apologies if this has been discussed before and I missed it. (If so, ignore and silently send me the link to the discussion please.)
Why don't the kernel guys distribute the kernel sources over the well established P2P networks to reduce load on their servers and to speed up downloads for everyone?
I mean, why not put it into the donkey and publish the e2k link on the official kernel.org web page and also submit it to the sharereactor?
MD5 or other hashing can guarantee that the official release has not been tampered with.
Am I missing something here?
silence
Dyslectics of the world, untie!
Happily (running a 2.4.19pre) I tried our local official mirror "ftp.de.kernel.org". Nope, no 2.4.20 there. :-( So at least
I fetched the .19 patch.
This is just sad. I don't want to hit the master "ftp.kernel.org" over and over again and won't do it, but can't they wait at least with the announcement until most of the official mirrors have caught up?
10000 people hitting "ftp.kernel.org" now - this doesn't have to happen but it is on nearly every kernel release. This leads the whole mirror concept ad absurdum on every release.
Disclaimer: I don't need 2.4.20 "within the next days", but as many others I like to hack around with new stuff, so if it is announced, I want to fiddle with it. :-)
See you all in #waitingforftpconnect .
42. Easy. What is 32 + 8 + 2?
Here is a link with some info about it. Now much though...
But here where I work one guy tried 2.4.20 on his Mandrake 9.0 (I cannot confirm that he did everything right though), but his / partition got completely corrupted. Same thing after fresh install and new kernel install.
Yep. I run two kernel compiles simultaneously to warm up the room.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Have a look in /boot for a Config* file, or if you have the source that came with the stock Suse kernel have a look for a .config file, if you find one or the other copy it to /usr/src/linux-2.4.20 as .config and do "make oldconfig" instead of "make menuconfig".
Slackware - because apt is for the lazy.
Why don't you come out and say who you really are?
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Are you sure it's not the compiler? I have had the same problem with VMWare, but I have a feeling it's not the kernel that's at fault, but rather gcc 3.X (which they say is not supported). Not that I really care, now that Codeweaver's Crossover runs Office and Quicken, I don't use VMWare anymore.
P.S. Ferme ta gueule de merde, sale enculé.
Reminder: find a new sig
It's that time again to do the thing we all love to do, compile your shiny new kernel. This time its 2.4.20.
then I don't know what is.
The bug is partially that slashdot doesn't seem to always remember the way I like to post, and partially that it doesn't notice I have already entered <p> tags and it goes ahead and enters its own markup anyway.
You would think that if a post contained markup, that "plain old text" would either strip out the markup, escape it as entities, or flip the selection to "HTML formatted" and not add markup of its own, but it doesn't do any of that. Instead, it enters paragraph breaks on top of the ones I already have, and so you get the widely spaced posts.
Lots of other people get this problem too, not just me.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Reading the changelog, I was just happy to see they updated the drivers for the Adaptec AHA-2840 VLB SCSI controller and the SMC 91C92 Ethernet chip, which is found on my VESA Local Bus Ethernet cards. Ah, I'm thrilled because I just so happen to be building a file server right now that uses both.
Hey, you can't tell me I'm the only person in here who uses the VESA Local Bus on his servers!!!
-Lawrence
Visit Zymurgy Records!
*pats you on the head*
you're drunk. go sleep it off.
a grrl & her server
After comple and install modules.dep is missing in /lib/modules/2.4.20 (for that matter /lib/modules/2.4.20 is missing entirely.) Everything works (so far), so I'm not too worried about it, but can I just copy the dep file from 2.4.18 to 2.4.20? Or is that a really bad idea? In other words, what's up with that?
Wait...didn't that reefer madness video promise "loose women" though?...
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
For those of you looking for the vserver with security contexts patch for 2.4.20.
Usually they are usually optimized for i686, but they don't (again usually) drop i386 support. It's just not optimized for i386.
unfinished: (adj.)
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Nope, bad idea... not everyone has access to usenet included in their isp package.
For instance, I havent been able to find an isp in my area that would give me usenet... And im definetely not paying an additional 10usd+ a month just to get 3 times more spam along with the occasionaly interesting discussion thread.
I fear we will just have to wait for p2p networks to evolve a bit more... and for bandwith to cheapen a lot more...
No sig for the moment.
newzbot.com - lets you search for open NNTP servers by various criteria including newsgroup name. Everyone does indeed have usenet access, provided 119 outbound isn't blocked by the ISP.
Besides, my proposal wasn't to read the newsgroups and cut and paste the kernel patches like what you see today.. just develop a standard way to post binaries to some new comp.os.linux.binaries.patches[.kernel] groups and harvest them. If apt (or rpm, or buildkernel) was to get a standard way to harvest usenet binaries and cryptographically verify them, then kernel patches could be distributed by someone on a 56k modem instead of a 250Mbit pipe.
Comcast (at least in my area, and I'm 20 miles from corporate hq) blocks all my outbound p2p connections at their routers. And that's the biggest fish in the pond. It's going to get a lot worse from here for everyone. Easy-to-use p2p is on the way out, but Usenet isn't going anywhere.
Intelligent Life on Earth
Thanks for the tip... I'll check that one out.
About Comcast, sorry to hear that, but if it makes you feel better let me tell you that there's also a disadvantage on having an isp that has all ports open... Mine is 'prodigy.net.mx' an infamous spammer haven.
No sig for the moment.