Btrfs Sees Minor Performance Optimizations With Linux 6.12
([Linux Storage] 18 September 01:11 AM EDT
Linux 6.12 + Btrfs)
The Btrfs file-system continues marching ahead with the Linux 6.12 kernel.
Patch Proposed For Adding x86_64 Feature Levels To The Kernel - But It's Likely D.O.A.
([Linux Kernel] 17 September 03:30 PM EDT
x86_64 Microarchitecture Feature Levels)
A patch was sent out on Sunday for adding new Linux kernel configuration options for tuning the kernel build to different x86_64 micro-architecture feature levels. The intent is on generating kernel builds that are faster for use on modern Intel and AMD systems. However, this patch is likely to not be accepted in the mainline kernel and has already been criticized upstream Linux kernel developers.
OpenJDK Java 23 Released With ZGC Generational Mode By Default
([Programming] 17 September 12:30 PM EDT
Java 23)
OpenJDK 23 is now generally available as the reference implementation to Java 23.
Initial AMD Zen 5 "Znver5" Support Merged For LLVM/Clang
([AMD] 17 September 02:17 PM EDT
Znver5 For LLVM Clang)
Last week the initial AMD Zen 5 "znver5" enablement for LLVM/Clang was posted by an AMD compiler engineer. That code has since undergone review and merged for LLVM 20 Git and yesterday then back-ported for LLVM 19.
The Printk Blocker For Upstreaming Real-Time "PREEMPT_RT" Has Been Merged
([Linux Kernel] 17 September 10:19 AM EDT
Linux 6.12 Printk Merged)
The printk changes to finish the NBCON consoles work has been merged for Linux 6.12! This is the last remaining blocker on real-time "PREEMPT_RT" support from being upstreamed. We're now tantalizing close to seeing the real-time kernel support merged after many years of being out-of-tree patches.
LLVM 19.1 Released With C++17 Support "Complete", More C & C++ Features
([LLVM] 17 September 09:00 AM EDT
LLVM 19.1)
LLVM 19.1 is out today as the first stable version of the LLVM 19 compiler stack including the Clang 19 C/C++ compiler.
Fedora 41 Beta Released With Many Leading-Edge Linux Enhancements
([Fedora] 17 September 08:00 AM EDT
Fedora 41 Beta)
The beta of Fedora 41 is out today ahead of the planned stable release in October for this leading-edge Linux distribution with many new features.
Mir 2.18 Released With Wayland Server-Side Decorations
([Wayland] 17 September 07:44 AM EDT
Mir 2.18)
Canonical today shipped Mir 2.18 as the latest version of this set of open-source libraries for assembly Wayland-based shells. Mir 2.18 brings a number of new features including Wayland server-side decorations.
Intel Linux NPU Driver 1.8 Released Ahead Of Lunar Lake
([Intel] 17 September 07:35 AM EDT
Intel NPU Driver 1.8)
Ahead of the Intel Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" laptops beginning to ship starting next week, the Intel Linux NPU Driver 1.8 is now available as the latest software update for embracing the Intel NPU for AI offloading.
Device Memory TCP Included With The Networking Changes For Linux 6.12
([Linux Networking] 17 September 04:00 AM EDT
Device Memory TCP)
Jakub Kicinski submitted the networking subsystem updates over the weekend for the Linux 6.12 merge window. Most notable this cycle is Device Memory TCP for zero-copy receive of TCP payloads to DMA-BUF regions.
ARM / RISC-V / LoongArch KVM Updates Submitted For Linux 6.12
([Virtualization] 17 September 12:00 AM EDT
Linux 6.12 KVM)
Red Hat engineer Paolo Bonzini submitted the initial batch of KVM changes targeting the Linux 6.12 kernel. This is just the first batch and notably lacking all of the KVM x86 Intel/AMD changes for the cycle. But in the non-x86 space there is a fair amount of activity for this next kernel version for those making use of KVM as part of the open-source virtualization stack.
FreeBSD 13.4 Released With Many Software Updates & Driver Improvements
([BSD] 17 September 12:00 AM EDT
FreeBSD 13.4-RELEASE)
The FreeBSD camp today released FreeBSD 13.4 as the newest point release to the FreeBSD 13 stable series for those that haven't yet migrated to the FreeBSD 14 series.
AMD Publishes RDNA 3.5 ISA Documentation
([Radeon] 16 September 06:00 PM EDT
RDNA 3.5 ISA Guide)
AMD today made public their RDNA 3.5 instruction set architecture (ISA) programming guide for these updated RDNA3 graphics found within new Ryzen AI 300 "Strix Point" APUs thus far.
Initial Raspberry Pi 5 Support & More Snapdragon X1 Laptops Submitted For Linux 6.12
([Arm] 16 September 04:00 PM EDT
ARM SoC Updates)
All of the ARM SoC and platform updates have been sent out for the Linux 6.12 merge window. Exciting this cycle is finally having initial support for the Raspberry Pi 5 plus supporting several more Snapdragon X1 Elite laptops.
Replay Protected Memory Block "RPMB" Subsystem Submitted For Linux 6.12
([Linux Storage] 16 September 03:00 PM EDT
Replay Protected Memory Block)
The MMC updates for the Linux 6.12 kernel include the introduction of a new kernel subsystem for Replay Protected Memory Block (RPMB) drivers.
A Re-Implementation Of The EROFS File-System In Rust Has Started
([Linux Storage] 16 September 01:00 PM EDT
EROFS + Rust)
The EROFS read-only open-source file-system has seen initial patches posted today for beginning to re-implement the C code within the Rust programming language for better safety guarantees and the possibility of more performance optimizations.
Idea Raised For Reducing The Size Of The AMDGPU Driver With Its Massive Header Files
([Radeon] 16 September 11:30 AM EDT
Moving To External Repo)
Following the weekend news of the AMDGPU kernel driver becoming too large that it's causing the Plymouth boot splash screen on slower Linux systems to time-out, longtime AMD Linux graphics driver engineer Marek Olšák expressed a new idea for helping to reduce some bloat from this AMD kernel graphics driver.
GNU Linux-libre 6.11 Makes Adaptations For Rust, Warns Of Hidden Binary Bits In v6.11
([GNU] 16 September 09:32 AM EDT
GNU Linux-libre 6.11-gnu)
Building off yesterday's Linux 6.11 release, the GNU Linux-libre 6.11-gnu kernel is now available that is the downstream stripping out driver support/features depending upon closed-source microcode/firmware and other modifications in the name of software freedom and ensuring no closed-source bits are used on Linux-libre-enabled systems.
AmpereOne Performance With GCC vs. LLVM Clang Compilers
([Software] 16 September 09:49 AM EDT
10 Comments)
While having the Supermicro ARS-211M-NR R13SPD server in the lab for AmpereOne benchmarking with the flagship AmpereOne A192-32X processor, I took the opportunity to run some fresh GCC vs. LLVM Clang compiler performance benchmarks on AArch64. Here are those results for that healthy competition between these open-source C/C++ compilers on AmpereOne cores.
The File Struct Is Smaller In Linux 6.12 - May Help File Heavy Workloads
([Linux Kernel] 16 September 06:30 AM EDT
Optimizing File Struct)
The file structure is one of the most widely-used data structures by Linux kernel drivers. The file struct represents an open file and thus obviously very important and ubiquitous throughout the kernel. With the Linux 6.12 kernel the file struct has been adjusted so it's smaller than before and in turn could help with performance for file-heavy workloads.