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Linux Kernel 2.6.4 Released

justinarthur writes "The Linux kernel version 2.6.4 has been released at 03:16 UTC. Included in the changes from version 2.6.3 are fixes to XFS support, Wide Area Networking, USB connectivity, and IEEE1394 connectivity. To download a copy, it is recommended that one utilizes a Linux Kernel Archives mirror. Linus Torvalds' announcement to the Linux Kernel Mailing list concerning this release is available here." Reader k-zed points out that Linux 1.0 was released in March 1994, ten years ago.

19 of 431 comments (clear)

  1. Why yes it does! by Medievalist · · Score: 3, Informative


    usermode linux runs linux on linux.

    So, the answer is yes.

  2. Re:new kernel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mandrake 10 is (look for the story from yesterday) Also you can get 2.6 from gentoo and debian, though not default

  3. did you report it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Copy down the numbers from the kernel panic.
    I know it's a pain, but we really need this.
    If you're terribly lazy, just get EIP, ESP,
    and any names you see.

    Mail that to linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org and
    expect a few questions about your hardware.

    That's not so difficult, is it? This gets the
    bug fixed so that the next release will run on
    your system.

    1. Re:did you report it? by pe1rxq · · Score: 3, Informative

      Without the symbol map the EIP and ESP values are pretty useless since they vary on compile time options (and even the compiler).

      What is usefull is the EIP (and call trace) with together with the symbol table, or easier the 2.6 kernels have a build in back trace that spits out the function names itself. (If you want some fun do it yourself for once with the call trace and a symbol table, bonus points for doing hex math on a piece of paper instead of a calculator)
      Just write down this list of functionnames and send it, that way the developpers immediatly known wath code path your pc took before going boom.

      Jeroen

      --
      Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
  4. Think of it as version 26 by Chemisor · · Score: 3, Informative

    In the OSS world, major releases are counted in the minor numbers, so 2.6 is what a commercial company would have called 26.

  5. Re:In 94, I was using Windows 3.1 by Astatine · · Score: 3, Informative

    Aren't you confusing kernel and distribution? Microsoft Windows is like a distribution (it's a complete running system). How different are Slackware 1 and Slackware 9 for instance?

    If you looked at what's happened to the NT kernel during those 10 years, I reckon it would also look like "10 years of incremental patches". Apart from the graphics renderer turning up in it, that is ;-)

  6. Re:new kernel by DarkBlackFox · · Score: 3, Informative

    2.6 does offer a number of improvements to 2.4 (as it should, being a later release), including native ATAPI (non-SCSI emulated) CDRW support (which a lot of new users get borked on and complain about), non-dangerous NTFS support (including writing, which is huge when migrating from Windows), much easier build process (simply 'make'), easier module selection layout, faster boot times, etc. etc.

    I was happy as a clam switching to 2.6, and haven't looked back to 2.4 much since.

  7. Partitioning md devices by rpozz · · Score: 4, Informative

    Finally they've included mdpart. This means anyone with a SATA RAID motherboard can use its full potential. Excellent :-)

  8. Re:new kernel by damballah · · Score: 5, Informative

    For MandrakeLinux 10, it is the default kernel. They also provide the latest from the 2.4 series, but you'll have to install that by hand. By "integration", they probably mean dropping devfsd in favor of udev... " I assumed the 2.6 was some addon I have to waste precious brain cells and time trying to figrure out how to install." Mandrake has had RPMs for the 2.6 series for some time now.

  9. How many have upgraded and then gone back? by steelerguy · · Score: 4, Informative

    So I went to the 2.6 series when they first came out. I was very happy with it at work, there was a noticable bump in speed...mainly in starting applications.

    At home it was another story. Sure the speed increases I noticed at work were still there but there were some fairly large problems.

    First, neither my DVD reader or CD burner were assigned /dev entries. So no reading CD's, DVD, or writing CD's. I honestly don't do it that much anyway, so I didn't spend a lot of time trouble shooting it. Plus after a day at work trouble shooting problems I don't feel like doing it at home.

    Second, I have not been able to mount my USB flash drive. It is an MP3 player which I changed CD's on weekly so I am not listening to the same stuff at the gym every day. Well after a few weeks of Outkast it was time for a change so I sat down to fix the problem. Two hours later, I just went back to the 2.4 kernel.

    I have gotten as far as getting the kernel to assign sda to my usb device but it never creates an entry in /dev and the /sys stuff is not mountable. Enabling USB debugging just shows me that things are messed up but does not really help much.

    I also started to get annoyed with all the SCSI emulation needed to mount a USB storage device. I don't understand how Linus can hate SCSI emulation so much when it comes to burning CD's yet it is perfectly acceptable to use it to mount a USB disk. Seems a bit hypocritical, but then again...he did sort of invent Linux so I guess I can cut him some slack.

    So all in all, I have been disappointed in the 2.6.x series of kernels and if they are the one's that are supposed to take the desktop market by storm then I think Linux on the desktop is in trouble. It is no wonder Redhat and SuSE are staying away from it for the most part right now. It is going to take both of them a lot of work to get everything working properly I would imagine.

    Am I the only one who went back?

    1. Re:How many have upgraded and then gone back? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Supposedly, USB Mass Storage is basically SCSI protocols piped over USB, so it requires SCSI emulation.

    2. Re:How many have upgraded and then gone back? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Are you using devfs? Did you try to migrate to udev (since devfs is deprecated)? Did you try to manually create those device entries and just use them, so you can at least make sure the device drivers work?

      As for /sys, you compiled sysfs into the kernel, right? If so, it should be automatically mounted (well, at least, it is on my box). You also need the following fstab entry, in order to mount usbfs:

      none /sys/bus/usb usbfs defaults 0 0

  10. Re:new kernel by MeanSolutions · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem with Linux lately is the annoying lack of stability and binary backward compatability.

    I have noticed very little, if anything, breaking when I moved from 2.4.21 to 2.6.x on SuSE 9.0, a distro compiled for and shipped with a 2.4 kernel.


    For example, the new threading libraries break all sorts of applications until you recompile the apps against the new library. This is particularly painful with commercial applications or for companies that need to provide support.

    Sun, IBM, HP, etc have all been able to enhance the functionality of their proprietary Unix systems without breaking binary compatability. It is a shame that the linux kernel people do not care to do so.


    That has absolutely nothing to do with the kernel "Linux". That has to do with updates to glibc and pthreads libraries. There is nothing preventing you from running a glibc2.1 with a kernel 2.0.5, 2.2.10, 2.4.18 or 2.6.4 running on top of it.

    --
    Swedish, but resident in the UK since 1996.
  11. Re:10 years? by TheTomcat · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to this , GPL v1.0 was released in 1989. RMS released the GNU Manifesto in 1985.

    So, it HAS been around a long time, but not 20-30 years.

    (and yes, I know it was a joke).

    S

  12. Re:Ready for the desktop? by MrNybbles · · Score: 3, Informative
    drwtsn32 wrote, apt-get update && apt-get upgrade

    That is not normally enough to get a 2.6.x kernel working correctly with the rest of the system.

    Debian Distros Only!

    First edit your apt sources file so you are upgrading to unstable. (Insert Windows Joke Here!) (I don't know offhand if any other Debian branch has the right stuff for Linux Kernle 2.6.x)

    apt-get update && apt-get install module-init-tools && apt-get upgrade

    apt-get upgrade may not upgrade module-init-tools for some reason. You might also want to run "apt-get install udev" if you have the hotplug stuff built into your kernel. Other things may need to be done for your system. This was enough for mine.

    The debian command dselect may do a better job of Upgrading your debian system as far as conflict resolution is concerned, but I really don't like the user interface to it. If you want to know more about debian packages check out http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages.

    A complete Debian 2.4.x to 2.6.x upgrade guide would be nice. Anyone know of one?
    --
    Losing faith in humanity one person at a time.
  13. Re:new kernel by TheTomcat · · Score: 3, Informative

    - A responsive scheduler and preemptible kernel (sure, most users won't have a clue what it DOES, but they'll notice the difference).
    - ALSA (in-kernel) -- for the first time I can remember on Linux, the mixer (non OpenSoundSystem) labels my inputs/outputs properly.

    S

  14. Nforce2 APIC issues still not resolved :-( by motown · · Score: 3, Informative

    Even Kernel 2.4.6 still locks up frequently on my Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard unless I specify the options "noapic nolapic" at boot time. Then the system runs flawlessly (even with ACPI-support).

    I read somewhere that the problem currently lies in the BIOS, rather than in the kernel, and that some vendors have already released proper BIOS updates that add a "C1 disconnect" option, which supposedly does the trick.

    Unfortunately, Asus has released no such update as of yet.

    Does anyone here (perhaps one of the kernel developers involved) have any more details on this?

    Can this problem eventually be solved in the kernel, even without any BIOS updates?

    After all, as far as I understood it, the BIOS pretty much takes a back seat as soon as the kernel is running, right?

    --
    "Oooh, does that mean we get to kick some puffy white mad zionist butt?"
  15. Re:Just when... by Winter · · Score: 3, Informative

    Could not find it in 2.6.4, but a patch to kernel/kthread.c to 2.6.1-rc1-bk6 shows these lines:

    +/* "to look upon me as her own dad -- in a very real, and legally
    + binding sense." - Michael Palin */

    Which is from the Holy Grail

    --
    main(i){putchar(177663314>>6*(i-1)&63|!!(i<5)<<6)&&main(++i);}
  16. Re:Anyone know what Rusty is talking about here? by Svennig · · Score: 5, Informative
    And the quote is:
    /* "to look upon me as her own dad -- in a very real, and legally binding sense." - Michael Palin */