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

Started to think 2.4.x was dead

[phathead296]

I was seriously starting to think the 2.4 series was dead in preparation for 2.6.0. The ChangeLog is impressive though.

Phathead

Re:Started to think 2.4.x was dead

[mahdi13]

Far from dead...hell, the 2.2 kernel is still being maintained and patched (mostly by Alan Cox, but still...it's active)

Re:Started to think 2.4.x was dead

[gunpowder]

I can't believe some still don't get this:

As long as it's not available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org or http://www.kernel.org, there is no newer version of the linux kernel.

The same applies to the ftp://gcc.gnu.org and GCC (not the website, they are always a little bit lame updating it).

So if you say

'Mandrake has already put the "2.4.21" kernel in their 9.1 release'

your are wrong! They didn't. They lied to you. Or you are mistaken. Or they used a prerelease and renamed it 2.4.21.

And no, 2.4.21 it's not 'too late'. Look at the Changelog and what huge amount of bugfixing has been done. And all those updates to the drivers!

True, 2.6 will feature a log of nice extra stuff, but I guess 99.9% of all linux users are happy with just the features 2.4 has. They simply don't need support for NUMA, 64bit dev_t or Zero-copy NFS.

BitTorrent

[Dreadlord]

I wonder if they are planning on an official BitTorrent.

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!

Be gentle to the mirrors

[Spock the Vulcan]

Instead of downloading the entire kernel, download just the patch file if you are running the previous version. Then patch your source tree using:

cd /usr/src/linux
bzcat /blah/patch-2.4.21.bz2|patch -p1
make oldconfig

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.

Re:Admin Question

[Malc]

Why are you running a release candidate on a production server?

If the server(s) is/are performing correctly, why bother upgrading? What will it buy you? Just apply security patches and don't tinker with anything else.

Uhh....what timing

[Cable_Monkey]

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

Re:Quick Question

[Osty]

When is it worth upgrading kernel versions?

When there's a compelling reason to upgrade. Those fall into two categories:

• The kernel fixes a previous security problem, or
• The kernel provides new features that you require for your product (not "want", but "need").

Any other reason is superfluous, especially for a server machine.

Is there a way I can easily use the old configuration?

The kernel config writes a .config file in the source root. Use that. If you patch rather than grabbing completely new sources, you won't even need to worry about copying that file around (unless you do a make mrproper, which you probably don't need to do unless stuff starts breaking during compile).

I must say I am very reluctant to upgrade the kernel.. especially when I don't have physical access to the machine. But I would of course love to the the fastest and most secure server as possible. Just curious what rules and procedures others use.

Years ago, back when the kernel was being updated nearly every other week rather than once every few months (2.0/2.2 time frame), I would always download the very latest kernel and compile that. Coincidentally, I was also learning Linux at the time, so I didn't mind spending time on stuff like that, and I was in school which meant a lot more free time. These days, my only linux box is a server, so unless there's a security fix I'm inclined to just leave the box alone. It's certainly easer not to upgrade than it is to upgrade.

13th?

[jmays]

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

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?

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.