Vue normale
Stable kernels 6.7.8 and 6.6.20
Kernel prepatch 6.8-rc7
So we finally have a week where things have calmed down, and in fact 6.8-rc7 is smaller than usual at this point in time. So if that keeps up (but that's a fairly notable "if") I won't feel like I need to do an rc8 this release after all.So no guarantees, but assuming no bad surprises, we'll have the final 6.8 next weekend.
Security updates for Monday
[$] Making multiple interpreters available to Python code
It has long been possible to run multiple Python interpreters in the same process — via the C API, but not within the language itself. Eric Snow has been working to make this ability available in the language for many years. Now, Snow has published PEP 734 ("Multiple Interpreters in the Stdlib"), the latest work in his quest, and submitted it to the Python steering council for a decision. If the PEP is approved, users will have an additional option for writing performant parallel Python code.
Security updates for Tuesday
[$] Formalizing policy zones for memory
Security updates for Wednesday
[$] Not so quickly extending QUIC
QUIC is a UDP-based transport protocol that forms the foundation of HTTP/3. It was initially developed at Google in 2012, and became an IETF standard in 2021. Work on the protocol did not stop with its standardization, however. The QUIC Working Group published several follow-up standards. Now, it is working on four more extensions to QUIC intended to patch over various shortcomings in the current protocol — although progress has not been quick.
Adding systemd to postmarketOS
The postmarketOS project, which produces a Linux distribution for phones and mobile devices, has announced that it is in the early stages of adding systemd to make it easier to support GNOME and KDE.
Users who prefer the OpenRC
init system are assured they will still have that option when building their own
images "as long as OpenRC is in Alpine Linux (on which postmarketOS is
based)
":
As with text editors, some people are really passionate about their favorite init systems. When discussing this announcement, please keep a friendly tone. Remember that we all share the love for free and open source software, and that our communities work best if we focus on shared values instead of fighting over what implementations to use.
Proof-of-concept images
are available now for a limited set of devices. Users are warned these images are "buggy,
unreliable, and NOT suitable for use on a device you rely on
". Those interested
in helping with testing and development are encouraged to follow along and report
bugs on the systemd
issue at GitLab.
[$] MySQL and MariaDB changes coming in Fedora 40
The Fedora Project switched to MariaDB as the default implementation of MySQL in Fedora 19 in 2013. Once a drop-in replacement for MySQL, MariaDB has diverged enough that this is no longer the case—and, despite concerns about Oracle and optimism that MariaDB would supplant MySQL, the reality is that MySQL and MariaDB seem to be here to stay. With that in mind, Fedora developer Michal Schorm proposed that the project revise the way MySQL and MariaDB are packaged in Fedora starting with Fedora 40.
[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for March 7, 2024
Security updates for Thursday
[$] Vale: enforcing style guidelines for text
Security updates for Friday
[$] Better linked-list traversal in BPF
[$] Untangling the Open Collectives
Name collisions aren't just a problem for software development—organizations, projects, and software that have the same or similar names can cause serious confusion. That was certainly the case on February 28 when the Open Collective Foundation (OCF) began to notify its hosted projects that it would be shutting down by the end of 2024. The announcement surprised projects hosted with OCF, as one might expect. It also worried and confused users of the Open Collective software platform from Open Collective, Inc. (OCI), as well as organizations hosted by the Open Source Collective (OSC) and Open Collective Europe (OC Europe). There is enough confusion about the names, relationships between the organizations, and impact on projects like Flatpak, Homebrew, and htop hosted by OCF, that a deeper look is warranted.
Huang: IRIS (Infra-Red, in situ) Project Updates
The technique works because although silicon looks opaque at visible light, it is transparent starting at near-infrared wavelengths (roughly 1000 nm and longer). Today's commodity optics and CMOS cameras are actually capable of working with lights at this wavelength; thus, IRIS is a low-cost and effective technique for confirming the construction of chips down to block level. For example, IRIS can readily help determine if a chip has the correct amount of RAM, number of CPU cores, peripherals, bond pads, etc. This level of verification would be sufficient to deter most counterfeits or substitutions.