-What's new in the Linux kernel - DebConf 2013
+What's new in the Linux kernel - DebConf 2014
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
What's new in the Linux kernel
+
and what's missing in Debian
Ben Hutchings
@@ -61,20 +62,17 @@
Regular Linux contributor in both roles since 2008
-
-
- Maintaining a net driver in my day job, plus core networking
- and PCI code as necessary
-
-
- Debian kernel team member, now doing most of the unstable
- maintenance aside from ports
-
-
- Maintaining Linux 3.2.y stable update series on
- kernel.org
-
-
+
+
+ Working on various drivers and kernel code in my day job
+
+
+ Debian kernel team member, now doing most of the unstable
+ maintenance aside from ports
+
+
+ Maintaining Linux 3.2.y stable update series on
+ kernel.org
@@ -85,10 +83,15 @@
Linux is released about 5 times a year (plus stable updates
every week or two)
+
+
+ ...though some features aren't ready to use when they firat
+ appear in a release
+
+
- For 'wheezy' we chose to freeze with Linux 3.2, which was
- getting pretty old by the time of release
+ Since my talk last year, Linus has made 6 releases (3.11-3.16)
Good news: we have lots of new kernel features in testing/unstable
@@ -111,12 +114,167 @@
needs new tools - teamd, teamnl, etc.
+ DRM/KMS drivers added for old, new and virtual hardware -
+ AST, DisplayLink, Hyper-V, Matrox G200, QEMU Cirrus
+
+
+ Should be more robust than purely user-mode drivers, and
+ compatible with Secure Boot
+
+
+ Current X drivers don't work with these, so the kernel drivers
+ are disabled for now
+
+
+ Make it work: join the X Strike Force and package the new X
+ drivers
+
+
+
+
+
+
Module signing [3.7]
+
+
+ Kernel modules can be signed at build time, and the kernel
+ configured to refuse loading unsigned modules
+
+
+ Necessary but not sufficient to implement Secure Boot -
+ we would also need signed kernel images and some other
+ restrictions when booted in this mode
+
+
+ Make Secure Boot work: come to the meeting on Tuesday
+
+
+
+
+
+
More support for discard
+
+
+ Flash devices (and thin-provisioned SANs) can be more efficient
+ if the filesystem 'discards' unused disk space
+
+
+ Requires support in hardware, driver, filesystem and any layered
+ device drivers - e.g. LVM, RAID (added in 3.7)
+
+
+ Must be explicitly enabled, but d-i doesn't do this by default
+