Linux 2.6.0-test3 Released

xepsilon writes "Linux 2.6.0-test3 has been released. Grab your copy off your local kernel.org mirror and report those bugs! Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it. See the ChangeLog for more details."

Comments

Round 3...

[quinkin]

*DING*

Q.

Re:Round 3...

[the uNF cola]

Thank you Michael Buffer.

Changes

[1s44c]

Can someone in the know sum up the major changes?
The 4000+ Line changelog is a little too big to read though.

Re:Changes

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes I can! Now includes even more SCO IP! Oh yeah, and it costs $699 until October so act fast.

Re:Changes

[p00ya]

Is it likely that Reiser4 is going to make it in to 2.6?

Re:Changes

[Anonymous Coward]

Being a LKML lurker, here are a few of the new features.

• In-kernel Module Loader and Unified parameter support [kernel.org]
• Nanosecond Time Patch [iu.edu]
• Fbdev Rewrite [iu.edu]
• Linux Trace Trollkit (LTT) [iu.edu]
• statfs64 [theaimsgroup.com]
• POSIX Timer API [theaimsgroup.com]
• Shared Pagetable support [theaimsgroup.com]
• Hotplug CPU Removal Support and Kernel Probes (no link provided)

Re:Changes

[Anonymous Coward]

A kernel-based trollkit eh? As if user-space trolling were not enough..! ;-)

Re:Changes

[theIG]

There are a many major improvements including

Brand spankn' new asyncronous "Deadline I/O scheduler, which will sort requests more agressivly/efficiently

phat new scheduler that constantly makes decisions no matter how many processes are running on the current machine. Gets rid of the problem of bouncing processes on smp machines that pleagues the current scheduler.

NAPI keeps kernel from being overridden with device interupts from high speed adapters. TCP offloading an asyncronous I/O help the network stack as well.

Neet VFS improvements

The inclusion of ALSA, along with support for many new devices (of course).

New Device Model (coherant registry of sorts).

many more, check it out. I have seen some very promising benchmarks.

Re:Changes

[Tony Hoyle]

Ahh there was an FBdev rewrite... that'll be why it doesn't work :) If you enable the framebuffer the machine just hangs on boot (tried on two separate machines so I guess it's a general problem).

Also there's no /dev/pts so you have to recompile KDE to not use it... that was enough for me so I went back to 2.4 until the distros have caught up.

Re:Changes

[Almost-Retired]

Also there's no /dev/pts so you have to recompile KDE to not use it...

And did you not turn it (/dev/pts (256)) on? I did, and after haveing my mobo's BIOSs redo the ESCD tables to move some IRQ's around, quite a bit of it is working. I'm booted to test3 right now, with kde3.1.1a as built by konstruct a couple of months back. Using mozilla-1.5a to do this little chore.

No sound just yet though as I was a registered OSS user before, and apparently alsa seems to have won the battle even if it doesn't want to handle a VIA8233-ac97 chipset.

If anyone has a recipe to bring the sound back to life please forward, I'm got all the ingrediants or can get them if they exist...

--
Cheers, Gene

Heh...

[Xpilot]

Slow news day?

Re:Heh...

[datan]

I guess so...the 'breaking news' on cnn.com (the one in red banner) is: Britain records its highest temperature on record -- 37.4C (99.3F) at Heathrow Airport and Gravesend in Kent. Details soon.

Re:Heh...

[azzy]

I am getting 37.5C in London, near Tower Bridge .. though probably my digital thermometer isn't as accurate.

Re:Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's ****ing hot here. We're not used to it. Usually we'll get one or possibly two days a year when the temperature just edges in to the 30s. It's been hovering around 35 for a week now. Was playing football (what you may call soccer) this morning, and now understand why it's a winter sport, it wasn't intended to be played in 36 degree heat. Still at least we're not in Iraq, it's 50 degrees there and power cuts have knocked out the air con.

Re:Heh...

[dpcgriffin]

Indeed it is a slow news day:2.6.0 has been out for a few weeks.

Re:Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

35C in Leyton.
It is fucking crappy, why can't it be like London in the films, snowing, foggy and COLD.

Re:Heh...

[Kjella]

You're new here, aren't you user... 117961?! Nevermind.

Kjella

Re:Heh...

[Rufus211]

erm...you do realize that you are user number 173770, making him ~55,000 ahead of you.

Re:Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not the breaking news on CNN anymore.

'Israel strikes Hezbollah positions in Lebanon'

Re:Heh...

[chewy]

stop fighting children...

*fidgets-long-grey-bears*

Re:Heh...

[Anonymous Coward]

God, you're lame.

Seriously. By the way, you might wanna look up "nevermind." But you'd be lame anyhow.

Ok, lets grab it and compile

[xyvimur]

2.6.0-test2-bk7 seemed to cause no problems to me, well I must try harder to get these pesky bugs nailed down.

Re:Ok, lets grab it and compile

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm... just so you don't waste too much time: If its _not_ causing any problems you should be trying harder to provoke it to do so. If it is, _then_ you should be trying to nail them down.

Heh

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

Time for some homebrew babelfish

Translation: Any bug you don't report (But hundreds of others will) might not be fixed, that is, if you don't report it!

geeze :P slashdot is replacing fark for the laugh factor

Re:Heh

[archen]

He's already using the next kernel already.
It seems to be a bug in 2.6.0-test3 which has bugs. As you can see I'm using it too as you can see.

Re:Heh

[epiphani]

Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

Department of Redundancy Department?

Re:Heh

[kasperd]

Department of Redundancy Department?

I think a Redundant Department of Redundancy would be more appropriate.

Re:Heh

[Zork the Almighty]

The icing on the cake is that you were also modded "Redundant".

Re:Heh

[jesser]

Score:1, Redundant

Can I mod your moderator as funny?

Payment?

[alien_blueprint]

Great!

But before I download this, where do I pay my SCO licensing fee?

Re:Payment?

[Pharmboy]

It appears that any kernel version 2.6 is royalty free, since SCO has only claimed IP in 2.4 and 2.5. so go wild.

Re:Payment?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I found sco in the changelog... so it's only a matter of time before payments are required. It's gonna cost big.

Various schemes failed; immediately deregistering while in the diSCOnnect routine causes crashes because the videodev layer sets some ..
stack, and which had gone out of SCOpe. ..
From: Nathan SCOtt

Re:Payment?

[Pharmboy]

No, I found sco in the changelog... so it's only a matter of time before payments are required. It's gonna cost big.

Various schemes failed; immediately deregistering while in the diSCOnnect routine causes crashes because the videodev layer sets some ..
stack, and which had gone out of SCOpe. ..

Maybe this means they will reduce the price for licensing 2.4 kernels to $499, and charge the $699 for the 2.6 kernels, making 2.4 affordable to most people. I bet they are even nice enough to let you upgrade your 2.4 license to a 2.6 license for only $399. Thank god SCO has been so understanding during this time of potential IP infringement.

Think I will go buy some of their stock now. Surely if they go with this type of licensing of Linux, it will generate lots of good will in the community.

Re:Payment?

[dnoyeb]

hehe. speaking of their stock. if you want to know what SCO actually thinks about their law suit, read their 10K SEC filing ;)

It is notable that MS is solely responsible for giving SCO their first profitable quarter in history.

Re:Payment?

[Anonymous Coward]

But before I download this, where do I pay my SCO licensing fee?

I believe this is one of the rare situations where a goatse link would deserve +5, Insightful.

Re:Payment?

[jxz]

When we will have the "Linux Refund Day"?

Re:Payment?

[DancingSword]

Speaking of their stock...
Dig This

Okay, to save you trolls from trouble

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, slashdot isn't freshmeat
Yeah, it's a development kernel

Big deal. Pick another story to troll.

Re:Okay, to save you trolls from trouble

[Daengbo]

I, for one, am excited about it and hope to have it running by tomorrow. I could use the better I/O

Convoluted Syntax

[Farley Mullet]

Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

Or: Remember, if you find a bug and don't report it, it probably won't get fixed in the next release.

Re:Convoluted Syntax

[Anonymous Coward]

How about: Any bugs not reported will not be fixed in the next release. Therefore, please test the new kernal and report any bugs found.

Results

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried it. It didn't work.

Re:Results

[caluml]

Yeah, I downloaded it, and double-clicked the icon in Explorer, and it opened WinZip - WTF is up with that?
Why can't they make a nice linux-2.6.0.exe or .msi for gawds sake?

Re:Results

[Drakonian]

Funny, but I agree. (With test 2) I couldn't get it to run on a Red hat box. Always kernel panicked.

SCO

[hak hak]

Has SCO already taken the opportunity to claim this new version as yet another illegal *x derivative?

Correct Link

[stuartp2003]

This is the correct link to http://kernel.org

Re:Correct Link

[SuDZ]

See? They told you reported errors would be fixed.

SuDZ

Broken link in story

[alien_blueprint]

That's probably supposed to be kernel.org.

And in case it's fixed later, it is broken right now. What's "htttp"? "hyper text texting protocol"? :)

Re:Broken link in story

[Anonymous Coward]

htttp is a typo you nincompoop.

Re:Broken link in story

[alien_blueprint]

I know, it was a joke ... note the smiley right there.

Re:Broken link in story

[The Herman]

Its Hyper Threadig Text protocol

Re:Broken link in story

[alien_blueprint]

What's "htttp"? "hyper text texting protocol"?

I meant "hyper text texting transfer protocol". That's what I get posting this close to midnight (my time).

Re:Broken link in story

[Kjella]

And in case it's fixed later, it is broken right now. What's "htttp"? "hyper text texting protocol"? :)

It's the new web protocol. It seems that a company named SCO has claimed IP rights to the http protocol, and is demanding $3 in licence fees per connection. Some speculate they will even claim any other protocol providing weblike functions to be a derivative work, but that's yet to be confirmed. So /. decided to find out ;)

Kjella

Re:Broken link in story

[Mr.Ned]

Wow, I see three posts already modded as Informative correcting this "mistake." It's there for a reason - when a slashbot sees a link it clicks. By placing a malformed URL in the story, the poster or Taco has just saved kernel.org a lot of bandwidth.

Re:Broken link in story

[Anonymous Coward]

It's there for a reason - when a slashbot sees a link it clicks.

IF the slashbots are actually follow the links to the stories then there can't be many slashbots on slashdot. Pretty much everyone here gets straight on to the commenting part.

Re:Broken link in story

[Anonymous Coward]

JFC, I don't know what's more pathetic and annoying: the inane SCO-related 'jokes' that people keep posting, or the idiot moderators who spew +1 Funny moderation all over them.

-test2

[harmonics]

I just built -test2!

Doh!

wget http://www.kernel.org...blah blah blah

h

Broken link...

[boredMDer]

Umm...will someone try fixing that kernel.org link? What kind of link is 'htttp:kernelorg'?

Try http://www.kernel.org...

What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Anonymous Coward]

What support tools need to be upgraded? I assume modutils. Which version of GCC is needed? What about stuff like ip_tables, are any changes needed? Maybe someone could post a quick summary of the "gotchas".

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[geeveees]

You *need* to upgrade modutils, also if you want to use cryptoloop you'll have to get a new util-linux.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[grennis]

Does windowsupdate.com carry test versions on the development branch of the kernel?

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Demanche]

Just so you know,

The Red Hat Network is much nicer then windows update.
*Remote* manual updates and system reboots. Even has precious automatic updates.

Perhaps you should diversify?

This is the problem with windows... its made for.. ill refrain from that.. :>

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Pharmboy]

I just went to windowsupdate.com and get all my udpates, works flawlessly. Why do you linux people struggle so hard with simple things like installing updates? And you think Linux can propser on the desktop? Looks to me like you need to hire some UI people... oh wait, it is open sores, you can't afford to hire anyone! This is the problem with linux... its made BY nerds, FOR nerds.

Actually between IBM and RedHat, i get very good support. Most people running these new kernels are doing so on a server, not the desktop. Most nerds are familiar with linux and windows, plus other operating systems as well, such as BSD, OSX, OS/2 and Dos. The only people struggling with updates on Linux are those who are wanting to learn more and increase their awareness and experience with their operating system. Most consider the desire to learn more a good quality.

Since you obviously use Windows only, and only know how to click a button to update your computer, its easy to understand why you don't see any significance to this. Not everyone wants to learn, we understand this. This is why we think Windows is a good thing, especially for little old ladies and people with learning disabilities.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG YOU'RE RIGHT! We should all revert to the blue-screening piece of crap.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Anonymous Coward]

I propser all the time!

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[finallyHasANickname]

The problem with Windows is that it's made by nerds against their better engineering judgment as commanded by Suits in a Sinking Ship for prey, and the process is so lucrative that others can be paid to


if (!strcmp("prey", input)) {printf{"customer");}

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Jellybob]

Most people running these new kernels are doing so on a server, not the desktop.

Where do you run your server? Just so I can avoid ever getting any hosting there, since you obviously have a fetish for upgrading everything to the latest unstable releases.

Although having said that I'm running 2.6.0-test2 (On my desktop. And I finished setting it up yesterday.) and everything is running smoothly (more smoothly... the preemptive kernel is quick.)

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[jd142]

Just so you know, you can set up your own windows update server pretty easily. It's hard to set up a server that will work with the red carpet service; at least that's what I've been told and what I've read. And then you simply use Group Policies to tell all the computers on your network to use your windows update server for their updates. You can control whether or not they reboot after a patch, whether the reboot is forced, exactly which updates you want to push down to your users, and whether or not the users have any choice in the matter. The update server will apply patches in the right order and get dependencies as needed.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[suwain_2]

This is rather like downloading Windows Longhorn and wondering what preparations you might need.

Or rather, it's like compiling Windows Longhorn specifically for your system.

And personally... I like Linux being "by nerds for nerds," although more and more non-nerds are turning to it. If you're going to troll, at least get it right.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[__past__]

Of course. But where do you get the stable version?

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[satch89450]

ust so I can avoid ever getting any hosting there, since you obviously have a fetish for upgrading everything to the latest unstable releases.

Not every server, even not every Linux server, is running at a hosting company. There are lots and lots of servers running in enterprises, in the IT room of medium businesses and at casinos, under the counter of small businesses, and even in spare bedrooms around the world. I suspect there are even Linux servers running in caves and tunnels.

And as a system administrator at a Web hosting company, I can assure you that we don't run in everything that Red Hat releases, either, for just the raason you indicated: instability.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[BrokenHalo]

This is the problem with linux... its made BY nerds, FOR nerds.

As opposed to Windows, which is made by coprocephalics for cretinoids.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Pharmboy]

Where do you run your server? Just so I can avoid ever getting any hosting there, since you obviously have a fetish for upgrading everything to the latest unstable releases.

They are for a private corporation, and we have development servers specifically for this purpose, not production machines. We also do not run every unstable kernel, as I have not yet tried any of the 2.5 series, but will start testing the 2.6 series immediately. This is how we can stay on the cutting edge without risking any security problems.

As I stated (and you conveniently neglected to quote), I don't put any 2.x.0 kernels on production machines, stable or not. We wait until a couple releases down the line, when the kernel is a bit more mature. This is not unusual, as a matter of fact, for production machines, its more common than not.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[etymxris]

Here's your list of gotchas. Read it carefully before proceeding.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[yarbo]

but does windowsupdate give you the option to tweak things for your individual computer? This update is not necessary, but we are given the OPTION to tweak our kernels. Many Linux distributions have simple update systems that take care of a lot more than just IE and Windows. Did you install all your updates for MS Office? what about your AntiVirus updates? patching your games? Why do you have to go to so many different places to get patches? I can get them all in one place, and with the exception of kernel upgrades, I don't even have to reboot ;)

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[supz]

One entry found for coprophilia.
Main Entry: coprophilia
Pronunciation: "ka-pr&-'fi-lE-&
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin
Date: 1923
: marked interest in excrement; especially : the use of feces or filth for sexual excitement

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=coproph il iacs

I had to look it up, so I figure I'll save other not so smart people the trouble.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Coprocephalic. Copro: shit. cephal: head.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[mnemonic_]

The problem with posts about Microsoft is that they're all assumption.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[finallyHasANickname]

The problem with posts about Microsoft is that they're all assumption.

Look. For years it was common knowledge that Microsoft was draining talent from academia and other places. Newsweek published info about it back in the middle 90's. There were attitudes like, "Oh, I know it's beneath my dignity to work for a DOS company, but Microsoft gave me such a generous offer that I just couldn't refuse." No. That is not a direct quote. I just used quotation marks and convenient grammar to give the impression that I got IIRC. It is common knowledge that extremely bright people are on the payroll of Microsoft. Given the universal hatred of unstable technological products, and given the immense immediate talent on the Redmond campus, how could a rational person conclude something other than that Microsoft's rank and file is full of people who like/"need" the money but wish like crazy that they could exhibit more craftsmanship? The Halloween Documents are darned good proof of that kind of thing. We are not talking about assumptions. It is a convenient double bind that rigorous backing of such opinions is "too long" and that quick assertions of opinion are "unsupported" or "assumptions".

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[Anonymous Coward]

Humm, I'd suggest that you go wash you hands now.

Re:What else do you need beside the kernel?

[AstroDrabb]

Red-Carpet is from Ximian and NOT Red Hat. Red-Carpet is used for Ximian Deskto (XD2), RHN (Red Hat Network) is from Red Hat. It is much more configuarable then Windows Update IMO and it is easy to set up a local service. It is also much more powerfull as far as control over the systems and what you want to send down and to what machines. Oh, and there is NO REBOOT REQUIRED.

Redundant.

[AntiOrganic]

"Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it."

If I don't report it, it won't be fixed if I don't report it?

Just making sure I need to submit all bug reports twice.

New Category Needed

[Anonymous Coward]

freshmeat-mirror.slashdot.org

HTTTP:// ???

[TheScienceKid]

why does the kernel.org link point to htttp://kernel.org?? a mistake, surely? Watch out, watch out, theres a malformed URI about! This one needs the evil bit setting, methinks. Muahahahahah! (/me walks off stage humming "The Monster Mash" (Rocky Horror picture show, right?)

Re:HTTTP:// ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch out, watch out, theres a malformed URI about!

And he wants your spoons!

Re:HTTTP:// ???

[rco3]

Monster Mash and RHPS? What?

Translation

[wfberg]

If found a bug, by you it is, report it you must, or fixed not it will be. This I sense in the Force. Chances you must take not, that reported by others it is, such a bug. Vigilant always, a kernel tester must be.

(For those of you who report "Jedi" as your faith on the Census).

Re:Translation

[IWannaBeAnAC]

Nice, but maybe the grammar is a bit too twisted? Here is my take:

Unstable, this software is. Coveted by the Dark Side* it is. Prepare for bugs or rampant filesystem corruption you must. Be sure young Jedi; a bug, to The Council, you must report. Ignoring bugs leads to apathy. Apathy leads to subservience. Subservience leads to EULA's. EULA's lead to slavery. Slavery leads to Microsoft.

*[SCO]

Huh?

[Ambush]

Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

But what if I do find a bug that I do report, is it then fixed if I do report it after I've reported it? Or something.

My head hurts, I think I'll go and lie down now.

Re:Huh?

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

Sir, I have just ruined your sig :(

ternary ( P ) Pronunciation Key (turn-r)
adj.
Composed of three or arranged in threes.
Mathematics.
Having the base three.
Involving three variables.

The latter group of people no longer exist, ph34r my power

Re:Huh?

[Ambush]

As you said, ternary is base 3.

Therefore it would follow that;

Base3 _ Base10

00 ____ 0

01 ____ 1

02 ____ 2

10 ____ 3 (What I was looking for)

11 ____ 4

And so on.

Or have I mistranslated somewhere? How have you understood it?

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, he means there are no longer people hunting for a dictionary because he gave the definition of "ternary". That leaves you with 2 types of people.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes but doesn't that mean that he now knows ternary?

Re:Huh?

[tomstdenis]

Another form of proof [from positional number systems] is this

10 in base three is equal to

1 * 3^1 + 0 * 3^0 == 3 + 0 == 3

So yes, 10 in base 3 is equal to 3 in base 10.

Tom

Re:Huh?

[Ambush]

"Yes but doesn't that mean that he now knows ternary?"

And therefore there is just 'one type of person'. heh. Now my head realy does hurt. :-)

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but man * goo^bottling + man*ham^canning=tomstdenis. What say you to this, hmmmm?

Re:Huh?

[tomstdenis]

you didn't define your variables. Obviously you haven't passed grade 9 math yet.

YOU FAIL IT.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you talking about? He just defined tomstdenis.

p.s. The YOU FAIL IT just makes you look like a bigger ass.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

TOMSTDENIS FAILS IT!

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Much better.

jesus!!

[Anonymous Coward]

slashdot editors what the hell are you thinking? did the office coffee supply run out or something?

what the heck, any bugs that you don't report might not be fixed if you don't report it!

Not only do we have redundancy in stories now, but in the text blurb as well!

Re:jesus!!

[Lispy]

Funny isn't it? From all the hundreds of /.ers who reported this story they chose the one with a broken link to kernel.org and redundant text.

But remember: "Be Descriptive, Clear and Simple and descriptive, and clear and simple!"

RPM for Redhat 9?

[ivaldes3]

Sorry for the fundamental question, but where might I find a RPM for this for Redhat 9? I've hunted some without success. Thanks!

-- IV

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[suwain_2]

Not a RedHat user, but I'd think it might take a day or two (at the least) for them to release an RPM?

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Pharmboy]

You won't see an official rpm from redhat on an experimental kernel. typically, redhat released kernels lag a couple months anyway. You might find 3rd party RPMs, but your mileage will REALLY vary.

You really don't want to install an rpm of an experimental kernel anyway, you should build it yourself. If you are not familiar with building your own kernel (not trivial, but not that difficult) then you should probably stick with stock kernels, since experimental and/or release candidates tend to have bugs that can break things. Also, anytime to upgrade from 2.4x to 2.6x you can expect potential to break things anyway.

The best thing is to install the source on a spare box, and compile it yourself, or learn how to if you don't know how. Its not THAT hard, but expect to screw it up a few times at first. Just be sure to update GRUB or LILO (and run lilo).

I use pretty much stock kernels now, although I will build them on my test boxes, to get a better understanding of changes. The stock kernels from RedHat are pretty good and functional from my experience, unless you need UberOptimized kernels.

It will likely be a few months AFTER 2.6 is released officially before RH issues and official version. Keep in mind that any 2.x.0 kernel is going to have the MOST bugs anyway. Most production boxes should wait for 2.x.2 releases anyway, unless they absolutely NEED the new features, or you love living on the edge (which if that is the case, you would be building your own kernel anyway).

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[CreatorOfSmallTruths]

Try here:

http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/2.5/
But use it at your own risk.

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[AndersM]

RedHat's Arjan van de Ven has RPM's here.

But: Half the fun of Linux is hand-tweaking your own kernel setup and compiling your own. Why not just do that? =)

Also, remember that you need to upgrade other pieces as well when going from 2.4 to 2.6 - the module utilities in particular. They are now known as "module-init-tools"

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a better question: does anyone know where i can find .deb's for the 2.4-series kernel? Have they hit testing yet?

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Xpilot]

However, if you do want an rpm, there are people at Redhat who do build them ;)

You can download from here.

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Anonymous Coward]

are you sure about that? since abour RH7.x, redhat have been *USING* experimental kernels for their allegedly production-level major version releases.

if you ever unpicked a RH 2.4.x kernel in RH8 or 9, you'd notice more similarities to the 2.5.x tree than 2.4.x

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Pharmboy]

if you ever unpicked a RH 2.4.x kernel in RH8 or 9, you'd notice more similarities to the 2.5.x tree than 2.4.x

They have picked several pieces of 2.5 to put in their 2.4, but I see this as a good thing, not a bad. This allows them to go to market on the cutting edge, but still tested and stable. Technically, EVERY Linux kernel is experimental to a degree, since they are still developing it. But from my experience, RedHat kernels are pretty stable, and easily upgraded with an RPM. Not perfect, but neither is any kernel you don't roll on your own. Frankly, they are probably more stable than 90% of the home rolled kernels, too.

I have been using stock RH kernels on one 7.2 server for several years (and on other servers for less) and have never had a problem with them. I install with the RPM and reboot remotely, and haven't had one fail to boot correctly (I DO have someone nearby to call on the phone if it did crap out). Not perfect, but worth the $60 a year per box I shell out for RHN, and even better for the average home hacker downloading for free.

I'm not smart enough to be a kernel snob, I'm too busy using Linux in the business to actually earn money. Personally, I like Redhat even tho they are not perfect.

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[drunk_as_in_beer]

I have a better question: does anyone know where i can find .deb's for the 2.4-series kernel? Have they hit testing yet?

Assuming you are serious here:

sources.list line:

deb ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

package:

kernel-image-2.4.21-3

(these are specific for your processor so look up which package you need)

Personally, I want to know where to find debs for 2.6.0. Anyone know?

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[drunk_as_in_beer]

I think I answered my own question:

http://packages.debian.org/testing/base/kernel-ima ge-2.6.0-test1-1-386.html

But this is only test1. It makes no sense to be using that when there is test3 (if you want to actually do some testing, its fine for check out the features of 2.6.0).

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[owlstead]

Hmm, I always first look if I need it. At this moment that is a solid no, so I'll be installing RH9 first. Which I do need since my X-Windows is broken (again)!

Maarten

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[cpeterso]

remember that you need to upgrade other pieces as well when going from 2.4 to 2.6 - the module utilities in particular.

What is the difference between the modutils RPMs and the module-init-tools bz2 files? Arjan van de Ven's directory has modutil RPMs, but no module-init-tools. I've tried Arjan's kernel and modutil RPMs, but I only get a blank screen on boot (before the expected spew of debug traces).

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[djcapelis]

Nope...

http://people.redhat.com arjanv/2.5/

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Pharmboy]

redhat has updated the kernel to version 9 twice since it came out. if you dont have rhn, and want updates that are even easier than windows, get rhn. for 60 a year, its a steal. i can update my computer by scheduling it, even if im not there. even schedule updates for all my computers, in one web browser. they have really got it down with this program.

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I want to know where to find debs for 2.6.0. Anyone know?

Why would you want to use 2.6 on debain? Thats like testing a prototype turbo engine on a Model T.

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[ivaldes3]

Yep, I have it and its good. I want to get this kernel because USB is very broken on my VIA based Asus A7V333 and I want to use my little pen drive.

-- IV

Re:RPM for Redhat 9?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you want to use 2.6 on debain? Thats like testing a prototype turbo engine on a Model T.

I have no idea what you are talking about here. Debian unstable is reasonably up-to-date. 2.6 works fine on it.

Re:Broken Link...

[suwain_2]

The excess t's were to make up for the missing //.

Re:Broken Link...

[GrenDel Fuego]

And don't forget the . between kernel and org.

A nieve question

[Anonymous Coward]

i dunno this maybe a silly qustion, but will the kernel ever be finished ? or do people continually try to re-invent the wheel over and over
is it possible to walk away from the kernel at some point and say "thats perfect" ?

Re:A nieve question

[Twisted Mind]

Ask that Intel

Re:A nieve question

[Anonymous Coward]

It will never be finished because the technology and social aspects surrounding it will never stop changing.

Welcome...

[packethead]

Welcome to the department of redundancy department... Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

Can you FEEL the quality?

[Anonymous Coward]

A busted link and mangled syntax in the same story--the daily double! Nope, no need to check the address bar to confirm this is slashdot, the site that editing forgot.

One more thing...

[Markos]

Remember, any story posted to slashdot that isn't edited is likely to have errors if it isn't edited.

Thank you.

Re:One more thing...

[Sri Lumpa]

Given the amount of edited stories posted on /. your sentence is doubly redundant.

HTTTP

[Joe Enduser]

Remember, any text that you send using the HyperText Transfer Text Protocol, if you send it in text, is send in text.

Re:Broken Link...

[sp00f]

give t's a chance!

Only you can prevent bug fires...

[fmaxwell]

Remember, any bug you find that you don't report is likely to not be fixed in the next release if you don't report it.

I found a bug that I didn't report. Now that I have reported finding a bug that I did not report, that means that the bug will be fixed, right?

Re:Only you can prevent bug fires...

[kst]

What happens if I report a bug that I didn't find?

AIRO driver still sucks

[ywwg]

The airo driver (for cisco wireless cards) still causes kernel panics. Hopefully this card will become usable at some point. For now it's a process of:

1. compile 2.6-testX
2. reboot
3. crash within 5 minutes
4. reboot, notice dataloss
5. restore affected files from backup.

This is the third test, and the third time through!

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmm... Maybe you should consider reporting it.

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[coolfrood]

6. ???
7. Profit!

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[Dan Aloni]

That's not the right attitude (nor place).

Stop ranting and start debugging (or grab the closest hacker near you to do it).

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[streak]

0.5) Make sure I'm running ext3 or reiserfs
6. Send an email to linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
describing the problem - so maybe it can get fixed.

Developers don't have time to test every piece of hardware.

If you do send an email I recommend listing exactly what airo card you have, including your .config, and any messages that you can maybe extract from dmesg (if it left any there).
If you want to try it again, I assume you get a big OOPS screen with a bunch of stuff like Stack Trace on it.

Copying this down and sending it is very valuable information to debugging.

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Developers don't have time to test every piece of hardware.

Not only that, but developers won't always have the hardware.

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[einhverfr]

Hmmmm... Maybe you should consider reporting it.

Evidently he didn't report not reporting it.

Sorry. It was too tempting....

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, have you ever looked at the Airo driver? It was written by a guy (named Elmer I think) who tended to abuse the C preprocessor in ways that allowed him to approximate programming in assembly. He abused the language so badly that debugging this driver was next to impossible without inordinate amounts of time stopping the compiler after proprocessing just to see what the REAL code was being compiled.

This driver has so many problems...races, SMP issues, can't have two Airo cards simultaneously working due to shared data structure issues, and on and on. I'm sure it has improved somewhat, but it probably should have been scrapped long ago.

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[MbM]

I ran into the same issue
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id= 1011

Re:AIRO driver still sucks

[ywwg]

aaaaaaahahahahah. Right, let me call up alan cox, as I am a close friend of his. Sorry, my job is limited to bringing issues to the attention of those who might be in a position to fix it.

Re:Iraqi Information Minister

[Mohammed Al-Sahaf]

That is blatantly untrue. Just go to the ftp and download the kernel yourself, if you dont believe it.

Ask /.: Has anything changed in the console cfg?

[Nexus7]

I can boot test2 and test3 just fine, but as soon as I log in, I get "stdin: not a tty" and I can't do anything else. Well, I can ftp in...

I've selected every console related thing I can seein menuconfig... still missing something I guess.

Heh to parent

[Mr Smidge]

If you don't moderate this joke funny, then 50000 other people will make the same joke further down the list of comments and be moderated funny, if you don't moderate this joke funny.

If you want people to download from a mirror

[kasperd]

Then link to /mirrors/ instead of the top of kernel.org. (Some time in the past I was unable to contact kernel.org for days, so I started mirroring the list of mirrors near my country.)

kernel bug koan

[Anonymous Coward]

1. If you don't find a bug and don't report it does it get fixed?

2. If you don't find a bug, and don't report it, is it still a bug?

Re:Broken link...

[kasperd]

Try http://www.kernel.org...
Why? http://kernel.org/ is enough.

Naive, even

[Anonymous Coward]

this maybe a silly qustion, but will the kernel ever be finished?

Will Windows ever be "finished"? Will the Ford Explorer ever be "finished"? Will your work ever be "finished"? Will human society ever be "finished"?

Re:Naive, even

[innosent]

Will Windows ever be "finished"? Will the Ford Explorer ever be "finished"? Will your work ever be "finished"? Will human society ever be "finished"?

Umm.... Let's take them one at a time.
1. (Windows) No, since Microsoft couldn't make money off of you if you weren't forced to upgrade. Unless, of course, Microsoft decides they don't like money anymore... (So it's a definite no).
2. (Explorer) We can only hope so. SUV's are bad enough as it is, but that's about the worst... At some point, though, it'll have everything they need to maximize profit, and it'll be finished, then discontinued after it is no longer profitable.
3. (Work) If it's important. You've got to die sometime. Maybe your work isn't finished then, but you will be finished working. But if it's important, someone will finish it.
4. (Society) Yes, or No, depending on your definition. Human society constantly kills itself, so at some point, we'll all be dead, and society's work will be finished. Also, we'll all be finished then, in another sense of the word. But, if you mean finished, as in perfect... Why bother asking. That's just a hell no.

Re:Ask /.: Has anything changed in the console cfg

[rompe]

Make sure to activate CONFIG_INPUT, CONFIG_VT, CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE and CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE in the configuration. You can find out if you did that by looking into your .config file.

Do you use devfs? Than you will want to compile devpts, too, and mount it to /dev/pts. The devfs in kernel 2.4 used to have it's own devpts, but this is no longer the case.

Maybe it's time for splitting up arches

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe Linus should split up the lesser-used architectures including their special drivers into a seperate package.

I'd try recent kernels more often, but still am a modem user:

`linux-2.6.0-test3.tar.bz2' at 68688 (0%) 4.9K/s eta:1h49m [Receiving data]

That's not funny; must wait till I am at work.

Re:Maybe it's time for splitting up arches

[Ignominious Cow Herd]

Uhh, that's why they make patches available.

Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, a new kernel-release. Again.

Ehrm...

[...] ...anybody knows exactly how we're supposed to discuss this thrilling piece of news?

I mean, I wasted all my humorous remarks and thoughtworthy comments on Linux 2.6.0-test2. Darn.

Re:Broken Link

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, that link didn't work for me. Did you mistype it?

TIA.

Re:THIS JUST IN:

[Anonymous Coward]

Draw out mindless, bitching pseudo-leet trolls?

Ah time for a UID# contest?

[MagPulse]

I remember the one time we had one someone with like #17 posted.

What's new?

[kavau]

Can somebody summarize in one paragraph or so what cool things the new kernel brings to Joe End-User?

Thanks!

Re:What's new?

[Anonymous Coward]

better scheduler so your desktop should feel quicker. i.e. you can play kbounce without your mp3 player 'skipping'. thats about all the end user will notice.

Re:What's new?

[Luke-Jr]

Actually, I've been using 2.6.0-tests for a while now and the opposite seems to be the case. With 2.4, XMMS would *never* skip. With 2.6, XMMS is skipping whenever I change virtual desktops or do anything that uses more than 80% CPU (estimate)

gcc

[MagPulse]

The README says you need to compile it with gcc 2.95.3. Are there any plans on when the 3.x series will be either supported or just switched to? Since I focus on C++, I know 3.x has a lot of improvements in the C++ compiler, but maybe for C it's not such a compelling switch.

Re:gcc

[Anonymous Coward]

You can compile the 2.6 series with GCC 3.2+ no problem, the readme is in error.

Re:gcc

[Anonymous Coward]

> The README says you need to compile it with gcc 2.95.3.

i compiled it with gcc 3.3 and it just worked fine.

Re:gcc

[Anonymous Coward]

2.95.3 is the recommended compiler, since that's what the developers have been using long enough to establish it as being reliable for the job. In my experience though, 3.2.x works just fine - I've been using it to build LFS-based systems more or less since gcc 3.1, without any issues.

SELinux

[Cheburator-2]

Linus mail says that SELinux security module is included in this release. It is interesting whether distributions will start to include SELinux support in standart editions.

Re:SELinux

[jimmy_dean]

Gentoo Linux has for a while now. Just choose the SELinux kernel. :)

Oronico driver works great!

[BroncoInCalifornia]

The Oronico PCMCIA card is working with one of those PCI to PCMCIA bridges.

This seems to be the only thing that is working.
Frame Buffer to scroll bootlog text and show Penguin is not working. (845G graphics)
USB is not working,
sound (ens1371) is not working.

If I knew more, I would sbmit bug reports. I likely screwed up build the options. But I do not know that for sure.

The wireless networking is the last thing I expected to work!

Here's How to Test Your New Kernel

[MichaelCrawford]

You should test your new kernel more thoroughly than by just casually trying it out on your machine. You can help the kernel developers significantly by doing so. You should also never deploy a new kernel on a production machine, even from a stable source version, unless you have rigorously tested it. While it may work great for everyone else, you may be personally blessed with the discovery of your very own bug, a bug which may cause data loss or significant downtime.

You should also be aware the Linus gets to release a new kernel whenever he wants. He does this when he thinks its the right time, for reasons that don't always involve reliability. He posts a new kernel release when he feels its ready, often without testing it particularly rigorously, and it has happened quite a few times that Linus has released a new "stable" kernel that turns out to be quite broken. It is actually quite common for the stable releases of the non-86 architectures to be quite buggy.

Finally, Linus announced on linux-kernel that the reason he released the first 2.4 stable kernel (2.4.0) was because he wanted more widespread testing, not because he felt it was ready to use. I wouldn't be surprised if he does this with 2.6. Both 2.2 and 2.4 went through several releases before they were really stabilized, and 2.4 has never been as reliable as the later 2.2 versions.

That's why I ask you to read:

• Why We Should Test the New Linux Kernel
• Using Test Suites to Validate the Linux Kernel

The Open Source Development Lab's Japan development center used to have japanese translations of them but they don't seem to be online anymore. I'll track them down and post them here when I can find them.

I am actively seeking further translations of these and the other articles that are at The Linux Quality Database. The articles are all under the GNU Free Documentation License so you can just grab them and translate away.

Thank you for your attention.

Hard lockup problem?

[Laven]

http://people.redhat.com/arjanv/2.5

I have been using Arjan's 2.6 kernel RPMS from here. test1 was working fine, but test2 and test3 have this mysterious hard lockup problem after a few hours of uptime and moderate CPU load. Has anyone seen this problem? Already known reported bug?

Serious question

[Drakonian]

What if you do find a bug, report it to the appropriate mailing list (Linux USB develpment in this case) but no one cares? i.e. it's too small a thing to cause problems for most people, even if it causes your USB device to completely not work. The linux kernel hackers are a *very* exclusive group and it's hard to get anything external in there. The SCO case has made it even more risky now, some untrusted third party might be trying to sneak in some illegal IP.

I like the concept of open source and all, but it's not as "open" as it's made out to be.

Re:Serious question

[bogie]

"I like the concept of open source and all, but it's not as "open" as it's made out to be."

Sorry your having problems, but just because your can't get help with your problem doesn't mean open source isn't "open" as you say.

No one ever said just because you have access to the source code that your were entitled to free tech support.

If your commenting as a developer and did actually write some code and can't get it added as you've hinted, then maintain your own branch. You know how many people let alone big companies have their own line of kernels because their code doesn't get it? Tons. You said your problem is too small to cause problems for most people so I don't know why expected code to get right in the mainline kernel.

Re:Serious question

[Drakonian]

I don't want tech support. I want the bug fixed, or our patch accepted.

The problem is that it's clearly a bug in the kernel, but isn't easy to fix. The whole goal is for our consumer USB device to work with as many OSes as possible. It works on Windows and OS X, but this bug stops it from working in Linux. Forking our own would be no good, our customers aren't going to use our own special distribution.

Re:Heh...Here's Why

[Lord Custos]

Microsoft and SCO aren't in their offices on a Sunday. As soon as they open up on Monday morning, I'm sure that one of the two will do something that will inspire a Slashdot story.

Re:Broken link...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you cannnot fix that broken link, I don't think you can compile a Linux kernel.
It is as simple as that, so newbies don't try to do stuff they inherently will fail.
See it as a timesaver.

One bug I'm still waiting to be fixed ...

[MbM]

Whenever I run this on my laptop it always changes the screen size by turning off the video scaling; it's annoying that I have to reset this each bootup. Does anyone else run into this issue?

(dell laptop, nvidia card)

Linux SW RAID-0

[teflonrabbit]

Anyone using raid-0 through software in linux will likely want to hold off, as an array that can do 50 mb/s in 2.4.21 only pulls 15 mb/s in 2.6.

This is with hdparm -a 512 /dev/md0 (as suggested on lkml)

It could be that the PDC20265 card support just got much worse, as each of the drives on that card had their IO potential cut in half, however.

Major Changes

[Anonymous Coward]

After trying to read the cryptic Change-Log, what major bug fixes ... etc are in this new test release?

Shouldn't that be...

[roesti]

... "Round 3: FIGHT"?

SATA

[kavau]

I guess this might be slightly OT, but what is the current status of Serial ATA support in Linux?

(I can't keep my eyes off the WD Raptor these days...)

I think I can aswer this one

[Rhinobird]

Not reporting bug you didn't find won't get that unreported bug reported or found unless it is fixed then it will have been found and reported.