Sections:
Main page
Linux in the news
Security
Kernel
Distributions
Development
Commerce
Announcements
Back page
All in one big page

Kernel development

The current development kernel release is 2.1.132. This release was, once again, a large patch, incorporating many of Alan Cox's "ac" patches. A tiny 2.1.133 prepatch is available, with not much in it. There is also a much larger 2.1.132ac2 patch available from Alan Cox with lots of fixes in it. There have been murmurings of a 2.2 pre-release during the week after Christmas, but that seems optimistic.

The Linux kernel archive mirror system will likely be active by the time you read this. This system will provide an extensive and easy to use mirror network for the Linux kernel, thus ending the problems with getting into kernel.org. Watch the daily updates page for the actual announcement once it's available.

Problems with core. There's been a rising number of complaints about the "net/core" directory in the kernel distribution. Many systems out there are infested with programs that assume that something called "core," even if it's a directory, should be removed, ignored, or otherwise treated like garbage. Automatic core dump removers run out of cron are can be particularly obnoxious to those trying to keep a kernel source tree around. CVS also ignores things called "core" by default.

To address these inconveniences, people occasionally request that the "core" directory be renamed to something else. Linus is unsympathetic, stating instead that the tools should be fixed. There have also been calls to rename core dump files, perhaps to something that incorporates the name of the program that created them.

A new kernel patch archive has been announced. This one, called, appropriately, the Linux kernel patch archive, aims to be an index of all the non-official kernel patches out there. It is set up to allow patch maintainers to maintain their index records themselves, "less effort than sending an announcement mail").

Breaking the 2GB file size barrier. Matti Aarnio got tired of hearing talk of how hard it was to implement large files on 32-bit machines, so he went and did it. Here's his announcement describing what he has come up with so far. Needless to say, he's looking for help and for testers.

Speak up! Version 0.04 of "speakup," a set of kernel patches which create audio output from a Linux system console, has been released. It applies to late 2.1 kernels; see the announcementfor more.

Rik van Riel has released a using Linux with > 1GB RAM HOWTO, in response to the increasing numbers of questions along those lines recently. He's looking for feedback on the early version; see his announcement for more.

December 24, 1998

Since we're a weekly publication, chances are we'll be behind a rev or two on the kernel release by the time you read this page. Up-to-the-second information can always be found at LinuxHQ.

Next: Distributions