Linux Kernel 2.4.21 Released

An anonymous reader writes "After > 6 months of waiting, 2.4.21 is here. Lots of cleanups, and a patch which gives a MAJOR boost to the 'feel' of the system under heavy disk IO, especially on IDE systems. As usual, available from your local kernel.org mirror or ftp.COUNTRYCODE.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/! Tidbit: 'Current bandwidth utilization 131.72 Mbit/s '." See the Changelog for new stuff.

Comments

Looks good..

[NightWulf]

Now to attempt to get it before it's slashdotted.

Just to get these out of the way...

[Drakonian]

Oh man! My 286 just finished compiling 2.4.20!

or

Oh man! I was downloading at 4000 K/sec before this story showed up. Thanks a lot Slashdot!

Admin Question

[peripatetic_bum]

Im in charge of keeping production servers up to date. Im using a 2.4.20-rc7.
should I go up tp 2.4.21

How often should I build the new kernels for production servers (should I even be using 2.4? ie, stick with 2.2)

Thanks for the Help!

Re:Admin Question

[Malc]

Doesn't the "rc" in "2.4.20-rc7" indicate it's a release candidate? If not, then I take back that part of my comment.

Re:Admin Question

[kelleher]

Quiet! Leave the guy alone!

I get paid good money to come in and clean shops up after sloppy Admins have created unstable messes... :)

I take it...

[Albanach]

SCO won't be offering this new kernel for existing Caldera Linux users then?

Enjoy, losers!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha, I'm glad I have a life, unlike you losers! Knock yourselves out compiling the newest kernel; I'll be out having a blast with my girlfriend in my Porsche.

(Okay, okay; I'm sitting at home in my underpants reloading slashdot to see if new stories are posted. I'll go download it now.)

excellent, we can switch to this

[mikeee]

when our AIX licenses expire today.

Ah

[HughJampton]

But does it run linux?

Uhh....what timing

[Cable_Monkey]

All joking aside, I was in the middle of compiling 2.4.20 when I saw this article...

Re:Be gentle to the mirrors

[Spock the Vulcan]

When I can download the Windows kernel source code and compile it in less than 5 commands, give me a call.

Re:why not posting the http links instead of the f

[SuperBanana]

ftp needs much more time and authentication stuff for login, commandos and so forth.

Man, can't a guy download a kernel via FTP without a bunch of armed dudes storming the place? Those SCO guys just don't know when to give it up.

Re:heres how to compile the kernel

[mahdi13]

You forgot some...

make modules
make modules_install

Unless you are a masochistic...er, monolithic kernel builder =)

13th?

[jmays]

Wait, recompile my kernel on Friday the 13th? I think not ....

Re:13th?

[cperciva]

Friday the 13th means nothing to Linux. The day you want to avoid upgrading to a new kernel is thanksgiving.

Make mine unixfree, please

[yukster]

Um, can I get mine without the SCO code, please? That Darrell McBride is a scary man:

The Linux business model was bound to change, and some people are having a hard time accepting this, McBride says. "The whole concept of getting something for nothing just doesn't hold up," he says. "The notion that you're going to run a Fortune 1,000 company on something that in the end could be more like Napster than an enterprise software system, it's a big question mark."
InformationWeek, today

how ironic...

[Imoen1337]

That a new kernel comes out on Friday the 13th.

Re:excellent, we can switch to this (SCO)

[Anonymous Coward]

From the Release notes:

> o [Bluetooth] Use very short disconnect timeout for SCO connections.
> o [Bluetooth] Kill incoming SCO connection when SCO socket is closed.
> o [Bluetooth] Support for SCO (voice) over HCI USB

Are these the lines SCO's bitching about?

Re:BitTorrent

[Xerithane]

Yeah, right, and people should be writing in Esperanto on their Dvorak layout keyboards, too, but that's about the same likelihood.

Est tajp jam nun, kun Dvorak... sed mi.

Re:Excelent

[PipoDeClown]

Your writing on a Linux machine now?

Obligatory SCO comment...

[sahonen]

Hopefully, by 2.6 SCO will actually TELL US what code got copied, so we can change the comments and variable names so it doesn't match anymore...

Re:Started to think 2.4.x was dead

[gunpowder]

Chill dude
Thanks. I needed that!
It's Friday, 13th, you know ...

Re:Impressive!

[KewlPC]

He could be running a 386 emulator on his 286.

Or maybe he's cross-compiling.

Or...

Shut up ;)

Re: RedHat kernels

[Anonymous Coward]

> I switched to a stock Linus 2.4.20 kernel

Geez, get with the times already! Linus 9 has been out for months now, and that Linux Torvagae guy has been really working hard. Least you could do is run the most recent version!

Omitted From Changelog

[Anonymous Coward]

- Removed offending SCO source code.
- Replaced offending SCO source code with ASCII art of a middle finger.

Wow, lotsa changes!

[mj01nir]

Just finished reviewing the ChangeLog. Did anything not get touched this time? Good lord, there are arcnet patches in here.

Also, when does Alan Cox sleep? Prehaps he's a new form of undead with an affinity for coding? Maybe he has cloned himself a few times? Alan, however you're doing it, we appreciate all of your hard work. Now go take a nice, long nap.

Re:Wow, lotsa changes!

[rtscts]

I think Slashdot reported that Alan had been merged directly into the kernel a few years back. He no longer has any need for his physical body.

I believe there was even an X-File about it.. some shack in the middle of nowhere with a T1.

Re:Be gentle to the mirrors

[koreth]

I bet you can get the Windows source code with one command:
mail -s "My resume" jobs@microsoft.com

Re:Be gentle to the mirrors

[Shagg]

And you people still wonder why so many people stick to Windows instead of trying Linux? When I can double-click an icon and click OK and have it install the updates give me a call.

Wow, what icon can I click on in Windows to compile a new version of the OS from source code?

What sort of a slashdotting is this?

[meringuoid]

Downloading from kernel.org at 57.12 K/s... which is just about as fast as my ADSL link can gulp it down. People, you're not doing your duty! Melt that server!... as soon as my download finishes, that is.

Re:Started to think 2.4.x was dead

[mateub]

>> The ChangeLog is impressive though. Sure, just removing all those SCO copyrights took days! :-) Matt