Linux Kernel 2.6.21 Released 296
diegocgteleline.es writes "Linus Torvalds has released Linux 2.6.21 after months of development. This release improves the virtualization with VMI, a paravirtualization interface that will be used by Vmware. KVM does get initial paravirtualization support along with live migration and host suspend/resume support. 2.6.21 also gets a tickless idle loop mechanism called 'Dynticks', built in top of 'clockevents', another feature that unifies the timer handling and brings true high-resolution timers. Other features are: bigger kernel parameter-line, support for the PA SEMI PWRficient CPU and for the Cell-based 'celleb' Toshiba architecture, NFS IPv6 support, IPv4 IPv6 IPSEC tunneling, UFS2 write, kprobes for PPC32, kexec and oprofile for ARM, public key encryption for ecryptfs, Fcrypt and Camilla cipher algorithms, NAT port randomization, audit lockdown mode, some new drivers and many other small improvements."
Published? (Score:2, Insightful)
Bloat? (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, I know that you can recompile and remove what you don't need, but most "non-uber-geek" users are not going to be able to handle that, and most distros are going to include a kernel with the kitchen sink compiled in.
KVM management? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bloat? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, most distros are going to include a kernel with the kitchen sink compiled as modules, taking up a few megabytes on the hard drive, but never loaded.
Re:Bloat? (Score:5, Insightful)
Most distros compile everything as modules, which generally keeps the overall size of the kernel down. Sure, bzImage grows over time (not just because of new features, but typically new patches == more lines of code), but not significantly from release to release.
Most "non-uber-geek" users don't care what's in their kernel, and if they did, they'd learn to compile it themselves. Compiling kernels has gotten easier over the years. Chances are, if you care enough about how your kernel is compiled, you'll have the skills needed to do it yourself.
Cool, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bloat? (Score:4, Insightful)
And, of course, there's many parts that can not be made into modules at all, but have to be part of the kernel. And that makes a HUGE difference.
Is the difference really that big? Well, the machine I'm currently on has a bzipped kernel that's around 1.5 MB in size plus a 820 kB map. The alternative boot to a commercial distro (no name, no shame) has a bzipped kernel that's around 2.1 MB, plus a 2.3 MB initrd, plus a 1.2 MB System map.
The difference might not be staggering, but it's there, and the kernel is growing with each revision. Here's how the System.map has grown for the last few revision on this laptop, with no new options added:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 754620 Nov 30 18:32 System.map-2.6.17-gentoo-r8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 768275 Dec 28 15:57 System.map-2.6.18-gentoo-r6
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 809157 Mar 26 04:28 System.map-2.6.19-gentoo-r5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 839371 Apr 25 22:45 System.map-2.6.20-gentoo-r6
That's an 11% increase without adding anything. Similar for the kernel itself (although that's harder to compare directly, due to the bzip2 compression). While not alarming, it's a trend towards feeping creaturitis that I think bears watching.
Re:You joke, (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, sorry, I didn't realize it was a rhetorical question.
Re:Cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering that slashdot was (note the past tense) first and foremost a Linux/all things geeky site, I'd say this article is very slashdot-worthy. Not to mention that we get a fawning mac fan boy article every time Steve Jobs so much as farts. At least the Apple section can be turned off. Wish I could do the same with Microsoft and Windows articles.
No, it's just the hardware (Score:4, Insightful)
This means your CPU is much more powerful than what you really need. I used FreeBSD a bit in the 1990s, but switched to Linux because the kernel allowed me better fine tuning in the 486 CPU I had at the time.
Today the CPU is way over my needs too, but I stick to Linux because, first, I have no need to switch and, second, Linux has better hardware support than the others you mentioned.
Re:Bloat? (Score:3, Insightful)
WTF are you talking about? Programming has become far more accessible to everyone in the last 20 years, and much of this is because of the rise of OSS. You just talked about Linux, KDE, Gnome, Xorg/Xfree86, etc., which are all OSS applications, developed and contributed to by thousands of hobbyists (as well as professionals). There's countless smaller projects developed entirely by hobbyists, focused on very specific niches, such as people who write small applications to support their other hobbies (ham radio, electronics, knitting, or whatever) and put them on sourceforge so other hobbyists will help them out. All this is a phenomenon that did not exist in a meaningful form back in, say, 1990, before OSS software became popular and the internet/WWW become commonplace.
Locked-down corporate-controlled DRM-infected computers are still a real danger, but the way things are currently going, I don't see this becoming a reality unless the US Government mandates it through legislation. We've already seen the beginnings of DRM lock-down with copy-protected CDs and DVDs which don't work worth a damn, and Windows Vista which is having all kinds of problems because of its excessive DRM. While I don't think Windows is going to go away in the next 5 years, I don't think we're all going to be forced into using DRMed Vista-running Dells in 5 years either, with Newegg.com out of business because building your own system is illegal.
Re:Bloat? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not to mention that people who are using Linux for embedded work can still rip out a ton of stuff. You can completely omit module support and all sorts of things that contribute to so-called "bloat." The kernel is still and always has been very flexible about compiling in features, and all the code's there to mess with...
Small, fast, full of features; pick two. I think.
Re:Bloat? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bloat? (Score:4, Insightful)
The common sense of the US Government is the only thing standing between us and DRM hell? Oh dear :(
Re:Published? (Score:2, Insightful)