SlackwareThis Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Did anyone else notice -- and raise an eyebrow in the Nimoydian style -- that that's 850 patches over the last two minor point releases alone, of a "STABLE" series!
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,085
Original Poster
Rep:
I found this to be of interest. You may or may not.
Quote:
Linux To Begin Tightening Up Ability To Write To CPU MSRs From User-Space
Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 25 June 2020 at 08:35 AM EDT.
The Linux 5.9 kernel is slated to begin introducing new restrictions on allowing writes to CPU model specific registers (MSRs) from user-space.
Via the Linux kernel x86 MSR driver, writes to arbitrary model specific registers from user-space is allowed -- assuming you have root permissions. But even with requiring root access, there are security implications and other issues in allowing any CPU MSRs to be written to from user-space without the intervention of the kernel via /dev/cpu/[CPU-number]/msr...............
Did anyone else notice -- and raise an eyebrow in the Nimoydian style -- that that's 850 patches over the last two minor point releases alone, of a "STABLE" series!
As Penfold would say,
CRIKEY!
Indeed, I have noticed. I don't think I've seen that much activity at once over the course of two stable point releases. The kernel is a complex piece of machinery with a lot of code paths, perhaps the COVID-19 thing begets more idle hands and more bugs are being discovered. Much of it isn't stuff that jumps right out at you, but for example obscure cases that can cause a race.
I have always enabled it, but I don't think I have ever used the MSR driver. I guess I should rethink that, why have it in my kernels. I have it built in right now, but I used to build it as a module and never saw it get loaded.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,085
Original Poster
Rep:
Here we go again.
The Linux Kernel Archive hasn't seen a new post since 23:47 EDT, last night, 28 June 2020.
This is the second time in the last 5 days.
Does anyone know how to contact them and make them aware of the problem?
Edit in, I just sent Greg KH an e-mail.
Last edited by cwizardone; 06-29-2020 at 12:18 PM.
Distribution: Slackware64-current with "True Multilib" and KDE4Town.
Posts: 9,085
Original Poster
Rep:
Year 2020, Round 41
Another batch of kernel updates has been scheduled for release on Wednesday, 01 July 2020, at approximately 03:30, GMT. If no problems are found while testing the release candidates, they might be available sometime on Tuesday (depending on your time zone).
There will be 265 patches in the 5.7.7 update, 178 in 5.4.50, 131 in 4.19.131, 78 in 4.14.187, 191 in 4.9.229 and, finally, 135 patches in the 4.4.229 update.
Normally, Greg K-H provides the above information, but today it was posted by Sasha Levin.
He or she has mislabelled 4.14.187 as 4.14.186. Perhaps that will be corrected.
We'll see.
Last edited by cwizardone; 06-29-2020 at 05:17 PM.
There seems to be a bit of confusion at kernel.org recently.
As of midnight EDT, 30 June 2020, none of these had been posted and the error of listing 4.14.187, on the archive mailing list as 4.14.186, has yet to be corrected or acknowledged (as of the moment). As they say, "Mine is not to reason why,...."
Last edited by cwizardone; 07-01-2020 at 09:13 AM.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.