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Linux 3.3 Released
diegocg writes "Linux 3.3 has been released. The changes include the merge of kernel code from the Android project. There is also support for a new architecture (TI C6X), much improved balancing and the ability to restripe between different RAID profiles in Btrfs, and several network improvements: a virtual switch implementation (Open vSwitch) designed for virtualization scenarios, a faster and more scalable alternative to the 'bonding' driver, a configurable limit to the transmission queue of the network devices to fight bufferbloat, a network priority control group and per-cgroup TCP buffer limits. There are also many small features and new drivers and fixes. Here's the full changelog."
Yea!
The Linux kernel guys show that constant steady frequent releases are the way forwards, note to GNOME and KDE guys, you got it wrong.
If I deploy a 3.3 guest on a host running 3.3, does it automatically become 3.3 repeating and go on forever?
Write failed: Broken pipe
Wow, I had no idea there was work in porting Linux to DSP architectures. That's quite an interesting development. I wonder what the use case is, since DSPs are typically used for very specific, real-time work, not for hosting general-purpose operating systems.
Also, it's quite surprising to me since as far as I know it's necessary to use TI's compiler to generate C6X code. I found one initiative to port GCC to it, but afaik it didn't get finished. My understanding is that it is no small job to get Linux to compile on non-supported compilers, so I'm interested in the toolchain they are using. For my own work on a C6711, I've been using the TI compiler under Wine. (Which works fine actually, although I had to generate an initial project in CodeComposer to get some of the board-specific support files.)
You don't have to wait for a distribution house to pick it up. Downloading and doing a kernel compile is easy.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
I just rebooted to apply 3.2.11 :(
Unicode in Slashdot
Features not marked "experimental" in the kernel config database are out of beta.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
It will be used for the Fedora 17 beta release currently scheduled for April 3rd.
A good file system with restripeable RAID is pretty nifty. Admittedly you won't use the feature often, but it's a nice alternative to backing up and restoring onto a new array.
Linux is a kernel, not an operating system.
Fanboism? Don't be a douchebag. This is a post about a new Linux release. The people who comment on this post should naturally be expected to be Linux users, probably fans. Just as a post about a new OS X release would naturally be populated with Apple fans. It's the people who purposefully comment on threads about products they DON'T like that create a problem. Then there are people like you who just enjoy acting like a dick. Give it a rest.
Arch Linux will probably support it in a few days. The packages have been marked outdated and there is already a 3.3rc7-1 ( https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=50893 )release in the wild that will probably be the basis for the updated to 3.3.
It does appear this means the possibility of running of an entire Android "system" and "apps" under a normal Linux desktop/laptop/tablet, but without emulation. Correct? If so, I can see that being a great thing.
I've been reading for a year about bufferbloat and all these tools designed to mitigate it but none of the explainations make sense to someone who isn't already a traffic control guru.
Can someone explain how, if I'm using a typical Linux system as a firewall between my LAN and a cable modem, I should reconfigure that system if I want to not experience bufferbloat?
It's the people who purposefully comment on threads about products they DON'T like that create a problem.
I wouldn't say it's a problem. They, like to the people who like it, are simply stating their opinions.
Gentoo and/or Arch
ZFS has no support for resizing or restriping it's RAID pools, or shrinking the storage units.
It's a giant missing feature on an otherwise excellent FS.
You're just jealous that it'll take at least a month after Windows 8 comes out before somebody creates a Metro-style UI for X.
Two to match the colors.
I cannot answer this question for any GNU/Linux distribution except for Slackware, which may or may not get Linux Kernel 3.3.xx as part of an official distribution for at least one Slackware release iteration ... But my personal Slackware machine will be getting 3.3 as soon as it finishes building and I reboot the machine. ;-)
It's nice to have a GNU/Linux distribution that doesn't jerk users around with strange application locations, misaligned library versions, or an update schedule tied to commercial support contracts. I've tried the rest, and I returned to the best (imho), since GNU/Linux kernel 0.96. Don't try dropping a new kernel source tar-ball onto RH Enterprise Server, Fedora, or even Ubunto -- it will break your system, and your $$$$ support agreement.
Any improvements to power management? It pains me that my laptop gets 4 hours battery life when in Windows 7 but only 2 hours when in Linux. In both cases it's just idle with nothing special running in the background. Or is this a problem with the distribution?
Loban Amaan Rahman ==> Anagram of ==> Aha! An Abnormal Man!
You are right, but the OP of this thread is the one who started it w/ snide references to Windows. He could have kept it to a discussion of just Linux, and nobody from the Windows camp would have bothered.
Seriously, they do some good work. I'm excited to see if this fixes sleep on some of the more obscure devices and gives us better power management.
Back in the Middle Ages (late 1990s through about 2004) I remember us all getting excited for new kernel releases, and then all rushing to download the source and build it. (By 'us' i mean myself and local geek friends, as well as our cohorts on various IRC channels).
Nowadays with auto-configuring, rolling release desktop distributions being the norm, is kernel building now only done in server room environments and for non-PC hardware?
This doesn't matter much, I'm just curious.
do() || do_not();
It seems pretty clear stuff is not just being shoved in willy-nilly for android. There have been many debates about including this piece or that piece, and if the implementation should be identical to the android version. Many parts are not in yet, and some may not go in at all. The android suspending solution may not ever go in, mainline may eventually get a system that serves the same purpose in a different way, android may eventually support that. LWN and the LKML posts they link to give a pretty good overview short of reading all the code commits.
Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
The lwn post is here: https://lwn.net/Articles/472984/
There is a lot of things they're leaving out for the time being.
the android merge means i can play angry birds without having to use wine...
the various fixes means my decaying old netbook will still remain usable, and even appear snappy next to one half it's age.
I am a bit confused with regards to the new team network driver which is going to eventually replace the current bonding net driver. The kernel newbies page says that it is user-space and uses libteam to do its work, but it also says that this new implementation will be more efficient.
How is this so? As network throughput keeps increasing, it is important to process each packet as quickly as possible. That's why network drivers and the packet filter are in the kernel. Wouldn't moving the new team/bonding work to user-space mean a lot more data for the kernel to copy back and forth between kernel and user spaces? And wouldn't this hurt efficiency? I'm sure the computer can keep up in most cases, but it seems this will require more CPU time to handle the work.
Just curious...
Elrond, Duke of URL
"This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"-Sam&Max
5.5 kernel...
This is either a typo or python is way more powerful than I thought.
So... which part of this release actually provides a compelling reason to use Linux over any other OS?
You've been itching for something to run on that TI C6X system you built?
The fanboisim here makes me gag. Apple has nothing on you guys.
Hey Cowboy did you know that the Linux Kernel currently runs most smart tvs, bd players, and other home entertainment devices. I would be willing to bet that the number of Samsung, Sony, LG and other tvs and devices running on the Linux kernel is much greater than the number of Macs, and PC currently in use combined!
The reason for this is that any manufacturer can use OpenSource software like the Linux kernel and modify it to their own needs without sending money to Redmond for every device they sell. This is why Microsoft and Apple have failed in the embedded market with perhaps the exception of some car companies like Ford Motors. Ballmer can rant, rave and do all the paid shill crap he wants. Fact is as the kernel becomes more open to modification from companies like Google with Android optimisations and slick coding Microsoft will become irrelevant in many markets.
The post was about the most important core software released in history so go pound on your PC, and post how linux sucks somewhere where someone cares. The Linux kernel is one hell of allot more that just the base of an OS as you perceive it.
Well... Having taken a brief glance through the 3.3 patch file and the LWN posts I am really disappointed, yet again, that google thinks their code is special. The ashmem code is pretty much a duplicate of existing aync shared memory calls that can associate handles to memory which ashmem cannot. Wavelocks are just god awful but the "possible" upside is that perhaps they can be transmuted into something that makes power management a little better.
The whole damn thing just makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If google wants to fork the kernel to suit their own Android agenda that is one thing, but this looks like a back end run to try and supplant the entire desktop ecosystem with the Android user interface which IMNSHO is a bit of a hack. I mean don't we have enough of a problem with the variants in Gnome and KDE already?
Binders also give me pause as it is again google thinking they have a better solution to IPC then D-Buss or any of the others, when it has the possibility to introduce security holes since it can pass credentials around.
You gotta wonder what the hell Linus is thinking on this.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
PHP 5.4 recently was released and it has a really cool new feature. So I did all the hard work of finding a ppa (ubuntu user thingy, stop me if I get to technical) and added it and upgraded. That was pretty hard core! Uber nerd!
Once, kernel features were desperately needed. Now? Meh, they are probably very nice but I can wait for others to test and add them. Everything just works so why risk breaking it?
MS has the same problem. XP and even more so Windows 7, just works. So how to sell Windows 8? And Linux ain't selling anything so why upgrade on my own when in a few months I can just run upgrade and have it all done for me?
Maybe I just gotten lazy. I would type more, but need a nap after so much hard key pressing. *Fluffs up cowboyneal for a pillow and cuddles up with his Linus blanky*
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What version if KDE are you running? I've never had that problem.
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
That's rubbish. I have a triple monitor setup and KDE will happily let me make a panel 100% of any one screen, or 100% of all three (if you wanted to do that for some insane reason) at any orientation.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
Well, it just seems highly unlikely that it wouldn't work for anyone else. I mean, it's a pretty basic feature and if I can do it with my pretty unusual and normally troublesome setup (triple monitors are not that well supported, although KDE does a good job), then I'd expect it to work with most people's. My point is, if it doesn't work for you, then it's a bug, so submit a bug report.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
Right. Because if you wouldn't do it, it's useless.
the android merge means i can play angry birds without having to use wine...
Note that playing sober raises it to another level of difficulty.
Every end has half a stick.
Bullshit. Not only does a merge of Android kernel features not mean you can play angry birds under some regular Linux distro (you'll need, oh, Dalvik and Android's windowing system which is not X11), you can already play Angry Birds in Chrome, no Wine required. The kernel is entirely irrelevant. If you don't know what you're talking about, just shut up.
Ahh, that was a cleansing sneeze.
You gotta wonder what the hell Linus is thinking on this.
Well, while he's a hard nail on code quality he's always been a pragmatic man. When it's an interface used on hundreds of millions of Android devices it's something worth supporting if he can do it as long as it doesn't interact badly with the mainline code. And that's exactly why something like wakelocks are still out while others are in. I don't think Linus believes in the one perfect system, if he has to support different IPCs then fine but maybe the implementation can share code and work towards supporting several approaches.
Remember it's not in anybody's interest to diverge just to diverge, it's just that sometimes it's better to do your own thing and show that it works rather than trying to get permission to change an old recipe. A lot of branches have lived in parallel to mainline and eventually gotten merged in as the real needs and differences - not just the NIH and semantics - have emerged. Getting over these hurdles and keeping the kernel from fracturing into smaller branches that each go their separate ways has always one of the true strengths of the project.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I'm guessing you don't know about SELinux? As in "written by the actual NSA"? Oh shit, it's been in the kernel for almost ten years! Go troll somewhere else.
for i in `facebook friends "=bday" 2>/dev/null | cut -d " " -f 3-`; do facebook wallpost $i "Happy birthday!"; done
Then neither you are not working with web developers who change their mind daily about basic system design nor you are working in an environment where uptime is not a concern nor you have very expensive load balance boxen that protects you from mundane facts of life. Either way, you are a very lucky person... OTOH we, of lesser levels of humanity, are grateful for one more tool that would make our lives easier.
OK, I admit to careless reactionary phrasing, but still, the point stands. The phrasing of the original post implied that KDE 'lacks the simplest functions' - which is untrue, hence the rubbish comment. The feature is there, and if it doesn't work for them, that's a bug, not lacking the feature itself.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
How would you boot the boot-loader?
That's the point, the boot-loader is custom-made to the computer in question. It's not even as simple as a configuration option enabled by selecting, say, an ARM-build or something - and you have an UEFI BIOS and I don't, so that'd be another config option to select during kernel compilation (and a recompile if you moved machines).
Literally, the boot-loader is THE lowest denominator when it comes to interfacing with the hardware. It has to find and supply disk access to any and all disks you wish to boot a kernel from using only BIOS calls, load things from disk into memory (which often requires paging tricks), and all sorts. That's inherently machine-specific, which is why all PC BIOS's handle most of that stuff for you and let you load the bootloader of choice for the rest. After the bootloader, that's why you can provide a more standard interface to boot anything from Linux to Windows without them having to know about the machine.
Go find elilo for your personal need. Or read your manufacturer's instructions on how to manage your UEFI boot sequence.
But an in-kernel bootloader is like an in-car spare car key. Pointless if you can't get that far without it anyway.
There's valid criticism and then there's just being an asshole, they're very different.
"Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho
According to my university lessons, the kernel and the drivers are the operating system, and everything else is shell and applications.
MS Windows should thus be considered a distribution (combining OS, shell and applications and an install mechanism).
And what constitutes an "asshole" is subjective. I don't see anything wrong with stating your opinion and doing nothing besides that, even if someone thinks it's harsh.
So... which part of this release actually provides a compelling reason to use Linux over any other OS? You've been itching for something to run on that TI C6X system you built?
The fanboisim here makes me gag. Apple has nothing on you guys.
My post had nothing to do with fanboisim. I currently use Win, Mac, and 5 different flavors of Linux not counting my tv, car stereo, smart phone, and at least 3 other devices that run modified Linux code.
I have been using Linux off and on for years. But it has only been recently that I have really been modifying it and making it do what I want and how I want. Currently I have my MBP that I use that I need to have Windows installed on due to either software differences in Win and Mac versions (ie. Quickbooks) or because I need access to some windows items while on my Mac.
I use a Windows machine for some games only because the gaming industry seems to feel that there is only 1 OS that is worth the time. Even Mac is lacking on a lot of the games I play. And I am not a big fan of running some games in a X over for Linux.
When I use Linux it is for everything else from my firewall to Development. But I am dependent on my Phone and Tablet which run Android. Now with android kernel merge I may have a greater use for using linux than before.
And as I stated, I just hope I dont have to start at the basics. I am no guru by far but I really dont want to have to thrash what I have learned in the last year or so and start again. Will have to wait and see what the distros look like.
M O O N... That spells Slashdot.
Your points are only vaguely related to the subject at hand, but I can see why these particular issues distress you so. I don't think anyone would think any less of you if you just stopped visiting Slashdot.
NO, Linux is a kernel.
Don't forget the 250+ million Android devices floating around out there.
Linux is everywhere these days although mostly invisible (some would call that "seamless").
Your problems with Slackware appear to stem from your use of the wrong mock-religion meme in your signature. Eris, in particular, is known to cause trouble. Try changing your signature to The Subgenius must have Slack and the package management should improve.
It already is. I've just updated my Arch and it came with the new kernel.
Stupidity is an equal opportunity striker.
Fellow slashdotter Bill Dog
What's with all this being nice and apologising for perhaps sounding a tad rude? Don't you know where you are?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
You just need to click on the cashew (or right click, panel settings - if there is no cashew, unlock the panel first) then drag the stoppers to change the size. As to dragging a widget, you can do that from the same view by dragging, and you can add an application launcher widget and point it to your custom binary or script. All of this stuff has been in there from the first KDE 4.x builds I used, even the really buggy first ones.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
ZFS has no support for resizing or restriping it's RAID pools, or shrinking the storage units.
Not entirely true - if you replace all of the devices in a pool with larger ones (one or two at a time depending on your pool) when all of the devices are of a larger size, ZFS will automatically expand the pool.
So, if you have a pool of 7 1TB drives, say with 4.5 TB of usable storage and you replace them with 7 2TB drives, when the last one is done rebuilding you'll have 9TB of usable storage without doing anything more as an admin.
Remember also that ZFS dynamically allocates filesystem storage out of a pool, so the need to shrink filesystems is much less relevant than with LVM and ext*/xfs. I'm sure there are cases where it could be handy, but I've personally never run into one in the 4 years I've been running ZFS systems.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
you'll need, oh, Dalvik and Android's windowing system which is not X11
In short: To run Android application, you'll need to run the Android userland.
The kernel is entirely irrelevant. If you don't know what you're talking about, just shut up.
Except that, in Android's case, the kernel *is* relevant.
The Android userland relies on quite a few modification of the kernel (mostyl to handle passing signals around).
Previously, the only way to run the android user-land, was on a special android linux kernel.
There was one special attempt to have Android run attop a stock distribution, done by Cannocical, and this didn't went much beyond experimental, because of the massive amount of patching involved. And thus the difficulty to maintain it, each time a new Android version emerges.
Now the necessary changes (or at least part of them, those needed for the user-land. Those needed for the power-saving are expected to arrive by Linux 3.4).
So you can either drop any of the latest stock vanilla linux kernel underneath your android system (as long as the vanilla kernel has driver for all needed hardware). And thus it will be much more easy for project such as CyanogenMod to feature the latest possible kernel (instead of an older version, because this was the latest available with the necessary changes.).
Or it's more easy for attemps like cannonical, to bring support for android user-land attop of a normal distribution (because now the default kernel can also contain the necessary plumbing, without needing as much patching as before).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]