Vue normale

Mourning Dan Williams

Par : corbet
23 juillet 2026 à 18:44
[Dan Williams in May 2026] I have just received the shocking news that Dan Williams, a longtime, high-profile kernel developer, has passed away. I knew him primarily through his long service on the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board; he was always a strong, thoughtful, and intelligent presence. Dan will be deeply missed.

There is a support effort underway for Dan's family as they come to terms with this loss.

[$] An operations structure for swap devices

Par : corbet
23 juillet 2026 à 14:25
One of the ideas raised at the 2026 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and BPF Summit (LSFMM+BPF) was the creation of an operations structure for the swap subsystem. Like many parts of the kernel, the swap layer evolved over time, with pieces being added as needed; the end result of this evolution is rarely what one would expect had the subsystem been designed today. The interface between the swap layer and the devices it uses is just one example. It appears that one result of the swap subsystem's evolution — the lack of an abstraction layer to interface with underlying storage — will soon be addressed, but in a different way than was initially envisioned.

Codeberg: Protecting our FLOSS commons from LLMs

Par : corbet
23 juillet 2026 à 13:27
The Codeberg forge has adopted a pair of new policies, promising not to use hosted projects to train LLMs and, more controversially, banning the hosting of LLM-generated software. The site's blog describes and justifies these policies.

Although often well intentioned, sharing the result of a prompt and calling it "libre software" does not make the world a better place. Codeberg is not and does not want to be a place to dump such generated single-use software that no one else will ever look at. We are a place for people to collaborate and improve software together. Within this context, the recent votes can be understood as a reconfirmation of those principles: As we want to center on human collaboration, we will not actively support or engage in the creation of LLMs and will not put our limited resources to use for storing single-use software that would pollute our FLOSS commons.

Security updates for Thursday

Par : jzb
23 juillet 2026 à 13:05
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (acl, dogtag-pki, dovecot, glibc, go-toolset:rhel8, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, grafana, grafana-pcp, httpd:2.4, javapackages-tools:201801, libtiff, mariadb-connector-c, perl-HTTP-Daemon, pki-deps:10.6, and sssd), Debian (bind9, chromium, firefox-esr, and pdns-recursor), Fedora (chromium, collectl, fractal, kernel, libssh, llvm, nginx, nginx-mod-brotli, nginx-mod-fancyindex, nginx-mod-headers-more, nginx-mod-js-challenge, nginx-mod-modsecurity, nginx-mod-naxsi, nginx-mod-vts, perl-DBI, perl-YAML-Syck, and srt), SUSE (7zip, GraphicsMagick, ImageMagick, multipath-tools, perl-YAML, python-sqlparse, python3-sqlparse, python313-bleach, and sssd), and Ubuntu (apache2, commons-beanutils, exim4, gawk, giflib, gst-plugins-good1.0, krb5, libapache-mod-jk, libarchive, libgphoto2, libhtml-parser-perl, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-aws-fips, linux-fips, linux-ibm, linux-nvidia, linux-fips, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8, linux-oracle, linux-ibm, linux-oracle, linux-ibm-5.15, linux-nvidia, linux-nvidia-6.8, linux-nvidia-lowlatency, linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx, linux-oem-6.17, linux-oracle-6.8, python-aiohttp, and tar).

[$] Save and restore may be coming to GNOME

Par : jzb
22 juillet 2026 à 17:01

One of the features that users often miss when moving from X11 to Wayland is the ability to save and restore the position of windows between sessions. At GUADEC 2026, held in A Coruña, Spain, Adrian Vovk provided an overview of work that has gone into providing a platform-wide save and restore framework for GNOME. After two failed attempts at landing an API, he believes that the third try will be the one to succeed—though not in time for the upcoming GNOME 51 release due in October.

PyPI now rejects new files after 14 days

Par : jzb
22 juillet 2026 à 16:05

Python Software Foundation security developer-in-residence Seth Larson has announced that the Python Package Index (PyPI) will now reject new files that are uploaded to releases older than 14 days. The restriction is to prevent the poisoning of old releases if publishing tokens or workflows of PyPI projects are compromised.

The discussion of this behavior began during PEP 740 (Digital Attestations) back in January 2024. The discussion was restarted in March 2026 after the popular packages LiteLLM and Telnyx were compromised. These packages were compromised due to a "mutable reference" in these projects' usage of the Trivy GitHub Action.

Originally the discussion stalled due to some projects depending on this behavior to add support for new Python versions to already-published releases. To quantify how disruptive this change would be to existing workflows, the PyPI database was queried for projects that have published new files to old releases (bucketed by number of days since the release). Later, specifically cp314 wheels were queried for the top 15,000 packages, revealing that only 56 projects of 15,000 had published a 3.14-compatible wheel more than 14 days after a release was available.

LWN covered the LiteLLM compromise in March.

[$] Attaching programs to multiple tracepoints

Par : daroc
22 juillet 2026 à 15:08

Tracepoints in the kernel are useful for a variety of purposes: debugging, active monitoring, and performance measurements, among other things. Previously, any given BPF program could only be attached to a single tracepoint. Jiri Olsa has been working to change that, and led a discussion about his progress at the 2026 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit. That work has since been merged, and can be expected as part of the 7.2 kernel.

Security updates for Wednesday

Par : jzb
22 juillet 2026 à 14:58
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (389-ds-base, c-ares, dovecot, freerdp, glib2, gstreamer1-plugins-good, gstreamer1-plugins-ugly-free, hplip, kernel, kernel-rt, nodejs:22, perl-XML-LibXML, webkit2gtk3, and yggdrasil), Debian (kernel, nss, roundcube, rtpengine, and xz-utils), Fedora (btrbk, kernel, mupdf, nuclei, perl-Crypt-OpenSSL-X509, rust-fern, rust-ifcfg-devname, rust-routinator, rust-rpki, and rust-syslog), Mageia (tig), Oracle (.NET 10.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, acl, dovecot, glib2, httpd, libtiff, pacemaker, perl-IO-Compress, plexus-utils, python3, and webkit2gtk3), Slackware (libssh and mozilla-firefox), SUSE (acl, avahi, aws-nitro-enclaves-cli, beets, chromium, firefox, go1.25-openssl, ImageMagick, iscsiuio, kernel, kubevirt1.8-container-disk, libgit2-1_9, libkrun, libsoup-3_0-0, nghttp2, opam, php7, python-aiohttp, python-tornado6, and vim), and Ubuntu (accountsservice, CUPS, imagemagick, jbig2dec, openssh, and snapd).

Firefox 153 released

Par : jzb
21 juillet 2026 à 15:15

Version 153.0 of the Firefox web browser has been released. Notable changes in this release include a change to the default local-file-access permissions for extensions, enabling LAN restrictions by default for all users, a visual indicator when a web site has access to the user's location, the ability to merge PDFs and add images as pages within PDFs, as well as experimental support for the JPEG XL image format.

See the release notes for developers for all changes that affect web developers, and security advisories for vulnerabilities fixed in this release.

[$] Debating the role of large language models in the kernel community

Par : corbet
21 juillet 2026 à 13:48
Like many development communities, the kernel community has been struggling to determine how large language models will be used in its development process. The news has been dominated recently by a strongly worded missive from Linus Torvalds on the subject, but the discussion has been rather more wide-ranging and nuanced than that. Topics that have been considered recently include the LLM attribution requirement, code-review tools, dependence on proprietary tools, and whether there is a place for concerns about the ethics of LLMs.

Security updates for Tuesday

Par : jzb
21 juillet 2026 à 13:19
Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (capstone, fence-agents, gimp, glib2, hplip, httpd, jackson-annotations, jackson-core, jackson-databind, jackson-jaxrs-providers, and jackson-modules-base, libtiff, maven:3.8, pacemaker, python3.14, and webkit2gtk3), Debian (samba), Fedora (c-ares, dnsx, freerdp, gpsd, libreswan, libseccomp, libtiff, mingw-python-idna, mingw-python-pip, openssh, python-pillow, wget1, and wireshark), Mageia (golang, graphicsmagick, haveged, libssh2, nginx, nilfs-utils, perl-CGI-Session, perl-Imager, perl-JavaScript-Minifier-XS, php, php8.4, php8.5, python-nltk, sqlite3, and xmlstarlet), Oracle (.NET 10.0, .NET 9.0, container-tools:ol8, firefox, giflib, glibc, go-fdo-client, go-fdo-server, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, grafana, grafana-pcp, hplip, httpd, image-builder, kernel, libtiff, mod_http2, pacemaker, perl-DBI:1.641, perl-HTTP-Daemon, php:8.2, python-markdown, ruby4.0, systemd, and thunderbird), Red Hat (buildah, container-tools:rhel8, dracut, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, libtiff, osbuild-composer, python-urllib3, python3.12-urllib3, python3.14-urllib3, and runc), SUSE (389-ds, chromedriver, gstreamer-plugins-bad, libreoffice, libsuricata8_0_6, podman, python311, and sssd), and Ubuntu (apache2, freerdp3, freetype, libde265, libxfont, linux, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-6.8, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-realtime, linux-realtime-6.8, linux, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-fips, linux-gke, linux-gkeop, linux-hwe-5.15, linux-kvm, linux-lowlatency, linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15, linux-realtime, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux, linux-gcp, linux-gke, linux-realtime, linux-gcp-6.17, linux-realtime-6.17, linux-gcp-fips, linux-hwe-7.0, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-oem-7.0, nginx, php8.1, php8.3, php8.5, rlottie, sqlite3, and wget).

[$] Fedora grapples with change

Par : jzb
20 juillet 2026 à 18:26

The Fedora Project is known for, among other things, having a well-defined set of processes for just about everything. It has extensive packaging guidelines that deal with the complexities of creating RPMs to install software, as well as processes for managing the legal questions that arise around shipping software. Fedora also has a well-defined change process for dealing with self-contained technical changes as well as major changes to the distribution, and other issues as they arise. At the moment, though, the project seems to be experiencing a sort of midlife crisis as it re-examines several of its change processes at once to determine if they are still effective.

Catanzaro: Some changes to GNOME security tracking

Par : jzb
20 juillet 2026 à 15:52

Michael Catanzaro, who has been managing GNOME security issue tracking since November 2020, has written a blog post that details some changes in how he will be managing GNOME vulnerability reports from now on due to an increase in AI-generated security reports. He will be switching from a 90-day deadline for disclosures to 30 days for issues reported on August 1, or later. "The shorter deadline would probably work better for GNOME even if not for the increase in AI-generated issue reports."

He also has indicated that he will be stepping away from the task of managing security issue tracking entirely by December 1, 2026, which means that there will be a gap to fill:

Currently nobody else is tracking GNOME security issues. If you are an experienced GNOME community member and you are interested in taking over this work, let me know and I will help you get started. (Security tracking is not a good task for newcomers.)

This may also be an opportunity to improve our tracking infrastructure. I use a wiki page, but this is fairly primitive and requires considerable manual upkeep. It's easy to forget to update the page when an issue report is closed, for example. Ideally, we would replace the wiki with a proper web app that dynamically updates based on the actual state of the issue.

[$] Merging famfs?

Par : jake
20 juillet 2026 à 13:15
The famfs filesystem, which is meant to provide shared access to huge memory-resident files on CXL and other devices, returned to the Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory Management, and BPF Summit (LSFMM+BPF) in 2026. It was first discussed at LSFMM+BPF 2024 and a new implementation was described at the 2025 gathering, but it still has not made its way into the kernel; LWN looked at a discussion about merging famfs back in April 2026.

Security updates for Monday

Par : jzb
20 juillet 2026 à 13:10
Security updates have been issued by Debian (kernel, libnfs, roundcube, and tiff), Fedora (antlr4-project, chromium, erlang, libseccomp, libtiff, log4cxx, mbedtls, node-exporter, opam, openssh, proftpd, python-asyncssh, python-django5, python-libcst, python-orjson, python-uv-build, ruby, rust-astral_async_zip, spoofdpi, uv, and yq), Mageia (bind, clamav, erlang, libidn, libreoffice, nmap, nodejs, perl-Bytes-Random-Secure, perl-Config-IniFiles, perl-CSS-Minifier-XS, perl-HTML-Parser, perl-Mojolicious, perl-String-Util, python-pydantic-settings, rsync, and upower), Oracle (.NET 10.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 9.0, bind, cockpit, cockpit-image-builder, coreutils, delve, dnsmasq, dovecot, expat, fence-agents, flatpak, frr, gdk-pixbuf2, giflib, glib2, go-fdo-client and go-fdo-server, golang-github-openprinting-ipp-usb, grafana, grafana-pcp, httpd, jq, kernel, keylime, krb5, libcap, libexif, libpng, libsndfile, libsolv, libsoup3, libtasn1, libtiff, libxslt, libyang, mariadb10.11, mod_http2, mod_md, opencryptoki, PackageKit, perl-Archive-Tar, perl-IO-Compress, poppler, postfix, postgresql-jdbc, python-urllib3, python3.14, python3.14-pip, python3.14-urllib3, qt6-qtdeclarative, rrdtool, rsync, ruby, ruby4.0, samba, skopeo, thunderbird, valkey, wireshark, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland, and yggdrasil-worker-package-manager), and SUSE (blender, chromium, containerized-data-importer1, cyrus-imapd, go1.26-openssl, gomuks, grafana, gstreamer-plugins-bad, kbfs, kubevirt1.8-container-disk, libxml2, lux, mariadb-connector-c, nginx, opam, openssl-3, oras, perl-DBI, php-composer2, python-django-haystack, python-paramiko, python-weasyprint, python311, python313-Pillow, python315, shibboleth-sp, system-user-zabbix, and wget).

Kernel prepatch 7.2-rc4

Par : corbet
19 juillet 2026 à 22:11
The 7.2-rc4 kernel prepatch is out for testing. Linus said: "This whole week I had the feeling that people were starting to go on summer vacation, but running the numbers shows that I must have been wrong - it all looks pretty normal."

"Half a Second" — a book on the XZ backdoor

Par : corbet
18 juillet 2026 à 16:52
Adrian Mastronardi has released a book called Half a Second; it is a detailed look into the XZ backdoor attempt of 2024. The book is freely available under a (non-free) noncommercial, no-derivatives CC license.

Half a Second tells that story as one continuous narrative: the burned-out volunteer who maintained the code alone and was patiently, expertly manipulated into giving it up; the engineer whose half-second of curiosity caught the attack through a chain of luck and hard-won instinct; and the operator who built it, who has never been identified and, this book argues, may never be.

Building an Arch Linux aarch64 port for Holo Core (Collabora blog)

Par : jzb
17 juillet 2026 à 17:03

Collabora has published a blog post about its work with Valve on Holo Core, which is a port of Arch Linux to aarch64 to be used as the the operating system on Valve's 64-bit Arm Steam Frame gaming system. Collabora has released the sources, binary packages, and a container image for aarch64 devices. The post describes some of the challenges in porting Arch Linux to a new architecture, and what remains to be done:

Whilst the infrastructure developed to this point is capable of building from first principles up until a point-in-time snapshot, the next step is to build this into a system which can track Arch Linux as it is developed. This work will serve as the basis of a continuously-operating CI system capable of shadowing Arch Linux itself. We will work with the upstream Arch Linux project to help Arch with their efforts to port the distribution to aarch64 architecture and work towards automated repeatable builds.

The post also includes instructions on how to create and test an aarch64 build container on an x86_64 host, for users who would like to follow along at home but lack a 64-bit Arm device.

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