linux Linux 3.9 Released

[f0rk_b0mb]

Linux creator Linus Torvalds last night announced the release of version 3.9 of the kernel. Available for download at kernel.org, Linux 3.9 brings a long list of improvements to storage, networking, file systems, drivers, virtualization, and power management.

H-Online editor Thorsten Leemhuis has an excellent rundown of what's new in Linux 3.9. One new feature, listed as "experimental," allows SSDs to act as caches for other storage devices. "This feature is able to speed up data writes, as it allows the faster SSD to first cache data and then, in a quiet moment, transfer it to the slower hard drive," Leemhuis wrote.

Linux maintainers have also done some driver work that might improve the sometimes questionable support for desktops and laptops. New drivers include support for Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi components, as well as trackpads used in Samsung's ARM-based Chromebook and the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition Ultrabook. The Kernel's driver for AMD Radeon graphics chips was updated to support Oland chips in the 8500 and 8600 Series Radeon video cards, in addition to AMD's forthcoming Richland chips. The driver code for HD audio codecs is also now "leaner and more robust."

"With Intel's new Wi-Fi drivers and the AMD graphics driver improvements, the kernel is now better equipped for tomorrow's PCs and notebooks," Leemhuis wrote.

Other improvements include experimental support for RAID 5 and 6 in the Btrfs file system; new "lightweight suspend" and "suspend freeze" modes that "cause the kernel to send all hardware components into their deepest sleep state"; and networking features to improve how workloads are spread across processor cores in Web servers and other systems. Virtualization is getting a boost with KVM support for ARM Cortex A15's virtualization features; Xen support for hotplugging processors and memory components; and integration of drivers to improve support for VMware's virtualization software.

Linux 3.9 comes a little more than two months after Linux 3.8, which has already made its way into Ubuntu and other Linux-based operating systems.

http://arstechnica.c...ort-modern-pcs/

Still on kernel 3.2 here on my CrunchBang box.

[tim_s]

Very nice! - I will of-course let it mature slightly before jumping into it but the features are very nice.

[fusi0n]

Nice! Thanks!

[Growled Member]

Very nice! - I will of-course let it mature slightly before jumping into it but the features are very nice.

I bet not too many people jump out on the cutting edge.

[spaceelf]

I bet not too many people jump out on the cutting edge.

As I understand it 3.7+ have major networking enhancements. I'd hit that.

(If I actually did Linux, anyway.)

[Karl L.]

Still on kernel 3.2 here on my CrunchBang box.

If you're really interested in running the latest kernel, you can either wait until Wheezy is released (tentatively slated for May 5) and install the new kernels that show up in wheezy-backports, or you can run the latest mainline kernels from Experimental (don't let the name scare you - at least not for the kernels hosted there). If you don't need any of the new features in the latest kernels I recommend sticking with Linux 3.2; it's very stable and will receive performance and security updates throughout Wheezy's lifecycle (just not new features).

[segfault]

Nice, i'll wait to CK and BFQ Patches then compile :B

[Haggis Veteran]

Cool, think i am on 3.6.8

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

As I understand it 3.7+ have major networking enhancements. I'd hit that.

(If I actually did Linux, anyway.)

From what I understand it's only support for 802.11ac with Intel tech, and a way to allow multiple processes to attach to the same socket (So you spawn 4 single threaded networking apps on a quad core CPU, and each one can read from the same socket, allows better load balancing, etc.)

The last major networking stuff (byte queue limits, codel, etc.) was introduced in 3.3 or so.

[+John Teacake MVC]

I bet not too many people jump out on the cutting edge.

I did! It works perfectly, Built each one with my guide that I have posted on the forum since rc4 OR 5.

[spaceelf]

From what I understand it's only support for 802.11ac with Intel tech, and a way to allow multiple processes to attach to the same socket (So you spawn 4 single threaded networking apps on a quad core CPU, and each one can read from the same socket, allows better load balancing, etc.)

The last major networking stuff (byte queue limits, codel, etc.) was introduced in 3.3 or so.

This is admittedly my only source. http://www.bufferbloat.net/projects/cerowrt/wiki

I have a linux based router so I'm hoping it gets a kernel upgrade at some point.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Yeah, I've been tracking the CeroWRT guys for a while, most of their improvements were mainlined a while ago.

I think the latest OpenWRT release has codel/BQL/etc., but I'm not entirely sure (I know for a fact that trunk builds do, since I'm running one)

[f0rk_b0mb]

If you're really interested in running the latest kernel, you can either wait until Wheezy is released (tentatively slated for May 5) and install the new kernels that show up in wheezy-backports, or you can run the latest mainline kernels from Experimental (don't let the name scare you - at least not for the kernels hosted there). If you don't need any of the new features in the latest kernels I recommend sticking with Linux 3.2; it's very stable and will receive performance and security updates throughout Wheezy's lifecycle (just not new features).

I'm fine with kernel 3.2 :). On May 5th, will Wheezy be moved to "Stable"? Does this mean Sid will move into "Testing"?

[CloudEngineer]

anyone have a arch mirror with linux 3.9-2 x64? my local mirrors won't have it for some hours and i am bored!

[yxz]

http://archlinux.limun.org

[Karl L.]

I'm fine with kernel 3.2 :). On May 5th, will Wheezy be moved to "Stable"? Does this mean Sid will move into "Testing"?

Indeed. Although technically it will be forked, not moved. Sid is the permanent code name for Unstable. On May 5th Lenny will lose its designation, Squeeze will become Oldstable, Wheezy will become Stable, Sid will be forked to become Jesse - which will be Testing, and Sid will get many currently blocked packages pushed from Experimental.

[f0rk_b0mb]

Indeed. Although technically it will be forked, not moved. Sid is the permanent code name for Unstable. On May 5th Lenny will lose its designation, Squeeze will become Oldstable, Wheezy will become Stable, Sid will be forked to become Jesse - which will be Testing, and Sid will get many currently blocked packages pushed from Experimental.

Ok I understand now. :) Maybe I'll try out Jesse on a spare hdd when it's released and see if I like it better than Crunchbang.

[Karl L.]

Ok I understand now. :) Maybe I'll try out Jesse on a spare hdd when it's released and see if I like it better than Crunchbang.

Immediately after a new Stable release, Testing will be fairly close to Stable for about 2 weeks before it starts to see extensive automatic imports from Unstable, and Unstable will get new imports very quick and become much more unstable than normal for a couple months. I recommend that you hold off trying Testing until it goes into release freeze unless you are a developer. During a new release's development cycle the main difference between Testing and Unstable is 2 weeks.

Since Crunchbang is essentially just another repository that can be added to a vanilla Debian install, you could install Crunchbang, edit your /etc/apt/sources.list to point to testing (or unstable) instead of wheezy, and perform a dist-upgrade to try out the new packages without missing Crunchang's customized Openbox experience. Many popular packages are backported from Testing to Stable, so I recommend that you just enable the wheezy-backports repository to get access to a subset of new packages unless you are confident that you can deal with occasional package upgrade problems and broken packages while the new Testing slowly stablizes.