The Latest Kernel Release.

ehartman · 11-17-2019, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petri Kaukasoina

but there have been some security issues. It does not mean that the firmware images need weekly updates.

Yeah, I know. But the Intel microcode has been updated to microcode-20191115 already.
I can build that for 14.2 with the SlackBuilds script, but would prefer for it to be in the official 14.2 packages.

abga · 11-17-2019, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehartman

Yeah, I know. But the Intel microcode has been updated to microcode-20191115 already.
I can build that for 14.2 with the SlackBuilds script, but would prefer for it to be in the official 14.2 packages.

This would be helpful given the kernel requirements for an updated microcode to fully mitigate the latest CPU vulnerabilities.
For better compatibility, I'd advise to always use the early loading method on Intel CPUs:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post5995482

Petri Kaukasoina · 11-17-2019, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ehartman

But the Intel microcode has been updated to microcode-20191115 already.
I can build that for 14.2 with the SlackBuilds script, but would prefer for it to be in the official 14.2 packages.

The kernel-firmware package does not contain Intel cpu microcode. Neither do any other official Slackware packages.

abga · 11-17-2019, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petri Kaukasoina

The kernel-firmware package does not contain Intel cpu microcode. Neither do any other official Slackware packages.

Indeed it doesn't, but ehartman's point is valid in the context of the latest Intel CPU vulnerabilities and the kernel requirements for an actual microcode availability for fully mitigating these vulnerabilities. Additionally, the Intel microcode SlackBuild is not always updated (maintained):
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post6058921
These packages should maybe make their way into the Slackware distro as "official" packages:
http://www.slackbuilds.org/repositor...m/iucode_tool/
http://www.slackbuilds.org/repositor...tel-microcode/
However, I recall now that Intel withdrew a faulty microcode release recently (last year?) and loading the microcode should maybe remain optional. Pretty easy to do it when using the huge kernel, just comment the microcode loading in the bootloader, a little more difficult when the generic kernel is used - initrd needs to be rebuilt, microcode removed.

P.S.
Actually, for the huge kernel only the updated Intel firmware image intel-ucode.cpio could be provided in /boot , then /sbin/liloconfig amended (for the huge kernel choice) to include the early loading method:

Code:

  initrd=/boot/intel-ucode.cpio

And for the generic kernel there should be two initrd images available, one (the default) containing the Intel firmware microcode and one without it, for the case the microcode is faulty and the system is unstable/cannot boot.

Lysander666 · 11-17-2019, 03:52 PM

Hmm I thought we would have had some news on the new kernel by now - to rc8 or not to rc8, that is the question.

Still, I have had rc7 running for a few days now with no problem, which couldn't be said for rc6 since I had to move on from that after 24 hours because of the screen blanking out.

Code:

lysander@lysultra-vi:~$ uname -rpm && uptime
5.4.0-rc7 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz
 21:50:46 up 5 days,  8:02,  1 user,  load average: 0.26, 0.52, 0.56
lysander@lysultra-vi:~$

And this is the B.P.V. version [Before Patrick Volkerding rebuild]. Still running very nicely.

AlleyTrotter · 11-17-2019, 05:41 PM

Looks like we got an rc8 on 5.4
enjoy

cwizardone · 11-17-2019, 05:42 PM

5.4-rc8

The newest "mainline" development kernel, version 5.4-rc8, has been been made available for testing.

The tarball, https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-5.4-rc8.tar.gz

Mr. Torvalds' announcement, http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/k...1.2/01078.html

Quote:

.....Nothing really looks all that worrisome from a release standpoint, and
as mentioned I was toying with just skipping this rc entirely. But
better safe than sorry.

Please do go give the tires a final few kicks before the expected 5.4
release next weekend......

abga · 11-17-2019, 06:27 PM

From Mr. Torvalds' announcement:
expected 5.4 release next weekend......

And I barely had time to dig into the shiny new goodies from 5.3.1, now I'll have to move to 5.4 ... I'm getting old

garpu · 11-17-2019, 06:30 PM

Wow. I thought 5.4 was scheduled sometime in December? Anything we should be aware of in the change from 4.19 to 5.4?

SCerovec · 11-18-2019, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garpu

Wow. I thought 5.4 was scheduled sometime in December? Anything we should be aware of in the change from 4.19 to 5.4?

Kernel:
release 5.4.0

Slackware development:
clutch; higher gear

cwizardone · 11-18-2019, 06:48 AM

Now available for your perusal.

Quote:

Mon Nov 18 05:09:43 UTC 2019
testing/packages/kernel-generic-5.4.0_rc8-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
testing/packages/kernel-headers-5.4.0_rc8-x86-1.txz: Upgraded.
testing/packages/kernel-huge-5.4.0_rc8-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
testing/packages/kernel-modules-5.4.0_rc8-x86_64-1.txz: Upgraded.
testing/packages/kernel-source-5.4.0_rc8-noarch-1.txz: Upgraded.
-VBOXSF_FS m
+X86_INTEL_TSX_MODE_AUTO n
+X86_INTEL_TSX_MODE_OFF y
+X86_INTEL_TSX_MODE_ON n
+--------------------------+

Lysander666 · 11-18-2019, 06:52 AM

All installed and raring to go

Code:

lysander@lysultra-vi:~$ uname -rpm && uptime
5.4.0-rc8 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz
 12:52:18 up  1:12,  1 user,  load average: 0.11, 0.19, 0.30
lysander@lysultra-vi:~$

cwizardone · 11-18-2019, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lysander666

All installed and raring to go.....

Ditto.
All the following have been installed and/or are working correctly, in Xfce-14.4.
The Nvidia-440.31 driver.
VirtualBox-6.0.15 (testing version). (Thanks, again, chrisretusn!)
dosemu.
WINE.
Firefox for video streaming, but
Pale Moon is used for everything else.
XnView MP.
The GIMP.
LibreOffice.
AisleRiot.
Midnight Commander.
gKrellm.
google-earth.
Thunderbird.
Xsnow.

Quote:

bash-5.0$ uname -a
Linux 5.4.0-rc8 #1 SMP Sun Nov 17 22:22:13 CST 2019 x86_64....

0XBF · 11-18-2019, 08:52 AM

I have been using the 5.4.0-rc6 kernel since it was added to testing and I'm happy to see that my broadcom wifi card has been working consistently for the past week.

I was affected by kernel bug 201853 where the brcmfmac driver would intermittently crash (usually daily) on the 4.19.x series kernels. Had to add a workaround by disabling power management for the card. Now with a week of 5.4.0-rc6 and my workaround removed I have yet to see it crash so it's looking good. I'll have to give the latest rc8 a shot when I have time to do the upgrade

SCerovec · 11-18-2019, 04:47 PM

i wonder how our ARM dudes are doing in -current?