Linux 2.4.13

Lawrence Teo writes: "Looks like Linux 2.4.13 is out. You can get it at the usual place (kernel.org) and the mirrors. Check out the Changelog."

Re:ext3

[frankie_guasch]

ext3 is inside the -ac kernels, look inside
the people/alan directory. It must be in your
closest kernel mirror.

Security fixes

[sting3r]

What they didn't mention were a few interesting security fixes from bugs in 2.4.12, probably due to the self-imposed DMCA "gag order." Since I am not in the US, I will take the liberty of posting them here:

• Changing some I2O settings now requires the CAP_NET_ADMIN privilege. Previously any user could alter these settings and possible cause a DoS (lock up the box or lock up the I2O bus).
• A race condition in the inode cache was repaired. This would allow stale inode data to be used (under the right circumstances), most likely only on SMP systems.
• Several potential vulnerabilities involving ptrace() have been closed, preventing a few kernel-based local root exploits.
• Bugs in the USB code which could have been leveraged to obtain direct hardware access have been fixed. These bugs may have resulted in local root exploits if security-critical hardware (such as hard drives) was on the USB bus.

-sting3r

Re:ext3

[rendler]

Right now ext3 is not in the official kernel but it is in Alan Cox's which is also synched to the latest version, of course you can patch the official to use ext3 with patches from here [uow.edu.au]. They usually lag a couple of days behind for a patch to be available for the latest kernels , but a cvs snapshot should work fine if you can't wait that long for them to release an official patch.

Re:ext3

[Anonymous Coward]

ext3 is _not_ in the -linus kernel.
It is in the -ac patches, and just got updated,
so you can use that.

The ext3 patch should not be used, and may not apply to the current kernel. Dont use the ext3
patch unless the ext3 page states it is for
your kernel version. (or use the -ac patch which have ext3)
Chances are that ext3 soon goes into the kernel
though.

Re:CVS

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a silly way of doing it. What if you fuck up your patched tree? Then you have to untar the original and patch and patch and patch. Here's what I'd do:

/usr/src# cp -av linux-2.4.1[23]
/usr/src# cd linux-2.4.13
/usr/src/linux-2.4.13# bzcat /home/mylogin/patch-2.4.13.bz2 | patch -p1

This lets me have a backup of 2.4.12 just in case.

Tips for Testing and Those New to Kernels

[goingware]

Before you use the new kernel on a production machine, or if you want to help find bugs, then read my article Using Test Suites to Validate the Linux Kernel [sunsite.dk].

If you are new to installing your own kernel, or you want to get started on kernel programming, see http://www.kernelnewbies.org/ [kernelnewbies.org] and join them on IRC in #kernelnewbies on the Open Projects Network.

Also helpful to newbies, or to convince you it's worthwhile to help with testing, is my other article Why We Should All Test the New Linux Kernel [sunsite.dk].

And finally there is the Kernel HOWTO [linuxdoc.org].

If you'd like to program or debug the kernel, I recommend a couple of books:

• Kernel Projects for Linux [fatbrain.com] by Gary Nutt, ISBN 0-201-61243-7 - this is a lab manual with hands-on kernel programming projects that address a variety of kernel components
• Understanding the Linux Kernel [fatbrain.com] by Bovet, Cassetti, and Oram, ISBN 0596000022 - I bought a number of kernel programming books, and this seemed to be the best written of the books that covered recent kernels. It's mainly 2.2, with short addenda in each chapter for the changes that were expected at the time of writing for 2.4

Mirror

[Corby911]

To relieve a bit of stress from kernel.org, heres the gzipped tarball...

http://beresm.stu.rpi.edu/~mike/linux-2.4.13.tar.g z [rpi.edu]

Re:CVS

[lliinnuuxxlover]

Here is a hint to use patches

1) make sure your kernel source lies in a directory called 'linux'
EG. /usr/src/linux

2) Now goto the parent directory (eg /usr/src)

3) Now execute the following commond with the downloded patch (be sure you have write permissions in the linux subdirectory)

$ bzip2 -cd | patch -p0
(that is p zero at the end)

Remeber that patches are incremental, so you have to patch from 2.4.10 to 2.4.11, and then to 2.4.12, and not directly with a single patch to 2.4.10

I have personally patched all the kernel relases (from 2.4.1 till 2.4.12) this way, and it worked every time.

If you stil have problems, do get back to me, and I'll help you

Re:Which releases are production stable?

[oconnorcjo]

I must say that I am getting a little bit leary about using the 2.4.x series in production. The fast releases don't inspire confidence. On one hand people (perhaps rightfully so) say don't use a kernel that is newer than 6 mo. old or you are a beta tester.

For a production enviroment, I would get a Red Hat or SUSE (or any other large distributor's) kernel and just use that. They are heavily tested and heavily used kernels.

I for one would not upgrade to 2.4 on a serious production server yet unless thier is something 2.2 is missing that you need.

kernel pre-emption patch

[DGolden]

If you're on a desktop machine, try the kernel pre-emption patch [tech9.net] - it's nice, and will make everything feel more responsive and smooth, since in addition to the normal user-space pre-emptive multitasking, the patch allows a lot of kernel calls to be pre-empted.

Even if you don't want to use the patch, you might want to try renicing X negatively to make it feel a bit snappier.