Tag Archives: linux

EXT4 Data Corruption Bug Hits Stable Linux Kernels

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As a warning for those who are normally quick to upgrade to the latest stable vanilla kernel releases, a serious EXT4 data corruption bug worked its way into the stable Linux 3.4, 3.5, and 3.6 kernel series.

via [Phoronix] EXT4 Data Corruption Bug Hits Stable Linux Kernels.

The reason why the problem happens rarely is that the effect of the buggy commit is that if the journal’s starting block is zero, we fail to truncate the journal when we unmount the file system. This can happen if we mount and then unmount the file system fairly quickly, before the log has a chance to wrap. After the first time this has happened, it’s not a disaster, since when we replay the journal, we’ll just replay some extra transactions. But if this happens twice, the oldest valid transaction will still not have gotten updated, but some of the newer transactions from the last mount session will have gotten written by the very latest transacitons, and when we then try to do the extra transaction replays, the metadata blocks can end up getting very scrambled indeed.

Wayland 1.0 Officially Released

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In terms of actual Wayland adoption, Ubuntu developers may try again to have Wayland become the Ubuntu System Compositor for Ubuntu 13.04 in April, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that delayed until Ubuntu 13.10 one year from now. Wayland is making nice progress and it’s becoming likely that it will succeed the X.Org Server on the modern Linux desktop, but there’s still much work ahead. Even the Wayland adoption within Fedora and the other more experimental / bleeding-edge Linux distributions has been slow.

via [Phoronix] Wayland 1.0 Officially Released.

Next Linux kernel release supports more ARMs with less code

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A new coding effort recently folded into the next version of the Linux kernel may finally resolve the long-running problems associated with Linux on ARM processors. While devices like the Raspberry Pi have shown what can be done with Linux on the low-cost, low-power ARM processor, the burden of developing Linux on the growing number of ARM-derivative processors on the market has been, as Linus Torvalds himself has described it, “a fucking pain in the ass.”

via Next Linux kernel release supports more ARMs with less code | Ars Technica.

Until now, each implementation of ARM by manufacturers has had its own associated kernel code tree, creating a code management nightmare.

Main Linux problems or Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop, 2012 edition

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In this document we only discuss main Linux problems and deficiencies while everyone should keep in mind that there are areas where Linux has excelled other OSes (excellent package management, usually excellent stability, no widely circulating viruses/malware, complete system reinstallation is not required, free as a beer).

This is not a Windows vs. Linux comparison however sometimes I make comparisons to Windows or MacOS as the point of reference (after all their market penetration is in an order of magnitude higher).

via Main Linux problems or Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop, 2012 edition.

Low-Power Slab Server Pairs ARM with Linux

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While Baserock Linux was first developed around the X86-64 platform, its developers planned the leap to the ARM platform. Each Slab CPU node consists of a Marvell quad-core 1.33-GHz Armada XP ARM chip, 2 GB of ECC RAM, a Cogent Computer Systems CSB1726 SoM, and a 30 GB solid-state drive. The nodes are connected to the high-speed network fabric, which includes two links per compute node driving 5 Gbits/s of bonded bandwidth to each CPU, with wire-speed switching and routing at up to 119 million packets per second.

via Low-Power Slab Server Pairs ARM with Linux.

Microsoft inks patent deal with service provider using Linux servers

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For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been on a tear of signing up Android and Chome OS device makers to license publicly unspecified Microsoft patents that Microsoft claims are infringed upon by Google’s operating systems.

via Microsoft inks patent deal with service provider using Linux servers | ZDNet.

In 2010, Amazon.com signed a patent-licensing deal with Microsoft involving Linux (upon which the Kindle e-reader is based). Novell, TomTom, Fuji Xerox and Samsung also have signed Linux-focused patent deals with Microsoft. But Amdocs isn’t selling Linux-based hardware; it is just running Linux on servers in its own datacenters (best I can tell).

Voyage Linux | { x86 Embedded Linux = Green computing }

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Voyage Linux is Debian derived distribution that is best run on a x86 embedded platforms such as PC Engines ALIX/WRAP, Soekris 45xx/48xx/65xx and Atom-based boards.

It can also run on low-end x86 PC platforms. Typical installation requires 128MB disk space, although larger storage allows more packages to be installed. Voyage Linux is so small that it is best suitable for running a full-feature firewall, wireless access point, Asterisk/VoIP gateway, music player or network storage device.

via Voyage Linux | { x86 Embedded Linux = Green computing }.

AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack

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This work is coming due to the new Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The slides that Bridgman references can be found at SlideShare.net. The page cited is entitled “AMD’s Open Source Commitment To HSA” and says “We will open source our Linux execution and compilation stack.” This is being done to jumpstart the HSA ecosystem, allow a single shared implementation where appropriate, and to enable university research in all areas.

via [Phoronix] AMD To Open-Source Its Linux Execution & Compilation Stack.

From: Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation .

The Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation is poised to “define and promote an open, standards-based approach to heterogeneous computing that will provide a common hardware specification and broad support ecosystem to make it easier for software developers to deliver innovative applications that can take greater advantage of today’s modern processors.” The HSA Foundation goes without Intel’s support. The HSA press release can be read at AMD.com for more details as to what’s been announced thus far.

CentOS 64 bit bad ELF interpreter

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You’re on a 64-bit system, and don’t have 32-bit library support installed.

sudo yum install glibc.i686

via linux – CentOS 64 bit bad ELF interpreter – Stack Overflow.

Also had to yum install gtk2.i686.  Here’s the solution from the above link for  Debian based systems:

Updated: Since it seems this answer is still getting viewed, and occassionally up-voted, note that the solution above works on CentOS, Fedora, or Red Hat derived operating systems; on a Debian or Ubuntu derived system, however, one would instead use

 sudo apt-get install ia32-lib

For some reason, after all these years of using 64 bit OSs, and still having an active, running FC10 installation, this was the first time I had no choice but to run a 32-bit app on a 64 bit machine.
The above solution worked