At the 2023 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management and BPF Summit, Luis Chamberlain led a plenary session on kernel support for block sizes larger than 4KB. There are assumptions in the current kernel that the block size used by a block-layer device is less than or equal to the system's page size—both are usually 4KB today. But there have been efforts over the years to remove that restriction; that work may be heading toward fruition, in part because of the folio efforts of late, though there are still lots of areas that need attention.

The 6.3.6, 6.1.32, 5.15.115, 5.10.182, and 5.4.245 stable kernels have been released. They contain a relatively small number of important fixes throughout the kernel tree.

Developers learning the Unix (or POSIX in general) system-call set will quickly encounter file descriptors, which are used to represent open files and more. Developers also tend to learn early on that the first three file descriptors are special, with file descriptor zero being the standard input stream, one being standard output, and two being standard error. The kernel, though, does not normally attach any specific meaning to a given descriptor number, so it was somewhat surprising when a recent BPF patch series attempted to attach a special meaning to zero when used as a file descriptor.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (chromium, cpio, mariadb-10.3, nbconvert, sofia-sip, and wireshark), Fedora (ImageMagick, mingw-python-requests, openssl, python3.6, texlive-base, and webkitgtk), Red Hat (apr-util, git, gnutls, kernel, kernel-rt, and kpatch-patch), Slackware (cups and ntp), and Ubuntu (linux-azure-fde, linux-azure-fde-5.15 and perl).

We often look at software that’s in an alpha stage of development. Some projects fizzle out without ever reaching a mature release. Others grow into mighty oaks. That’s the nature of open source

We often look at software that’s in an alpha stage of development. Some projects fizzle out without ever reaching a mature release. Others grow into mighty oaks. That’s the nature of open source

The Firefox 114 is now available for download ahead of its official unveiling on June 6th, 2023, as another worthy update for this popular open-source web browser used by numerous GNU/Linux distributions by default.

The Firefox 114 is now available for download ahead of its official unveiling on June 6th, 2023, as another worthy update for this popular open-source web browser used by numerous GNU/Linux distributions by default.

Codeplay Software, which was acquired by Intel last June, has an exciting announcement to make today in the form of the oneAPI Construction Kit. This open-source project aims to help ease bringing up SYCL on new processor/accelerator architectures, particularly around HPC and AI. The oneAPI Construction Kit also has a reference implementation for RISC-V...

Immutable distro blendOS 3 is already in the works and promises several new exciting features for fans of immutable distros, such as support for more Linux distros and an innovative approach to system updates without using package repositories.

Immutable distro blendOS 3 is already in the works and promises several new exciting features for fans of immutable distros, such as support for more Linux distros and an innovative approach to system updates without using package repositories.

Immutable distro blendOS 3 is already in the works and promises several new exciting features for fans of immutable distros, such as support for more Linux distros and an innovative approach to system updates without using package repositories.

Immutable distro blendOS 3 is already in the works and promises several new exciting features for fans of immutable distros, such as support for more Linux distros and an innovative approach to system updates without using package repositories.

Last month Linux's sound subsystem maintainer Takashi Iwai published a set of Linux driver patches for MIDI 2.0 support for the USB Audio and Raw MIDI drivers. That roughly six thousand lines of new code for the MIDI 2.0 driver coverage is now expected to be mainlined with the upcoming Linux 6.5 cycle...

For those running HP or HP-Compaq business-class systems whether they be desktops or laptops, improved hardware sensor reporting is expected for the upcoming Linux 6.5 kernel thanks to a new HP WMI Sensors driver set to be mainlined...

For those running HP or HP-Compaq business-class systems whether they be desktops or laptops, improved hardware sensor reporting is expected for the upcoming Linux 6.5 kernel thanks to a new HP WMI Sensors driver set to be mainlined...

Today marks nineteen years since I started Phoronix.com for covering the Linux hardware space. It's been a wild ride from the days of 56K modems, graphics driver pains, and having to use NDISWrapper for WiFi device driver support on Linux, among many other Linux hardware pains in the early days. These days the open-source GPU driver scene is far better off, Linux hardware support overall is great, companies continue investing massively into Linux/open-source thanks to the success in the server space over the past two decades, and the Steam Deck has proven to be one of the most interesting Linux-powered consumer devices in recent years...

Today marks nineteen years since I started Phoronix.com for covering the Linux hardware space. It's been a wild ride from the days of 56K modems, graphics driver pains, and having to use NDISWrapper for WiFi device driver support on Linux, among many other Linux hardware pains in the early days. These days the open-source GPU driver scene is far better off, Linux hardware support overall is great, companies continue investing massively into Linux/open-source thanks to the success in the server space over the past two decades, and the Steam Deck has proven to be one of the most interesting Linux-powered consumer devices in recent years...

The open-source uutils project that is striving to be a drop-in replacement to GNU Coreutils but written within the Rust programming language is out today with a new feature update...

For fans of the lightweight IceWM X11 window manager, released on Sunday was IceWM 3.4 as the newest feature release...