Welcome to LWN.net [LWN.net]

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head><title>Welcome to LWN.net [LWN.net]</title> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noai, noimageai"> <link rel="icon" href="https://static.lwn.net/images/favicon.png" type="image/png"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="LWN.net headlines" href="https://lwn.net/headlines/rss"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/CSS/lwn"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/CSS/nosub"> <script type="text/javascript">var p="http",d="static";if(document.location.protocol=="https:"){p+="s";d="engine";}var z=document.createElement("script");z.type="text/javascript";z.async=true;z.src=p+"://"+d+".adzerk.net/ados.js";var s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(z,s);</script> <script type="text/javascript"> var ados_keywords = ados_keywords || []; if( location.protocol=='https:' ) { ados_keywords.push('T:SSL'); } else { ados_keywords.push('T:HTTP'); } var ados = ados || {}; ados.run = ados.run || []; ados.run.push(function() { ados_add_placement(4669, 20979, "azk13321_leaderboard", 4).setZone(16026); ados_add_placement(4669, 20979, "azk93271_right_zone", [5,10,6]).setZone(16027); ados_add_placement(4669, 20979, "azk31017_tracking", 20).setZone(20995); ados_keywords.push('S:Homepage'); ados_setKeywords(ados_keywords.join(', ')); ados_load(); });</script> </head> <body> <a name="t"></a> <div id="menu"><a href="/"><img src="https://static.lwn.net/images/logo/barepenguin-70.png" class="logo" border="0" alt="LWN.net Logo"> <span class="logo">LWN<br>.net</span> <span class="logobl">News from the source</span></a> <a href="/"><img src="https://static.lwn.net/images/lcorner-ss.png" class="sslogo" border="0" alt="LWN"></a><div class="navmenu-container"> <ul class="navmenu"> <li><a class="navmenu" href="#t"><b>Content</b></a><ul><li><a href="/current/">Weekly Edition</a></li><li><a href="/Archives/">Archives</a></li><li><a href="/Search/">Search</a></li><li><a href="/Kernel/">Kernel</a></li><li><a href="/Security/">Security</a></li><li><a href="/Calendar/">Events calendar</a></li><li><a href="/Comments/unread">Unread comments</a></li><li><hr></li><li><a href="/op/FAQ.lwn">LWN FAQ</a></li><li><a href="/op/AuthorGuide.lwn">Write for us</a></li></ul></li> </ul></div> </div>  <div class="not-handset" style="margin-left: 10.5em; display: block;"> <div class="not-print"> <div id="azk13321_leaderboard"></div> </div> </div> <div class="topnav-container"> <div class="not-handset"><form action="https://lwn.net/Login/" method="post" name="loginform" class="loginform"> <label><b>User:</b> <input type="text" name="Username" value="" size="8" id="uc" /></label> <label><b>Password:</b> <input type="password" name="Password" size="8" id="pc" /></label> <input type="hidden" name="target" value="//" /> <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Log in" /></form> | <form action="https://lwn.net/subscribe/" method="post" class="loginform"> <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Subscribe" /> </form> | <form action="https://lwn.net/Login/newaccount" method="post" class="loginform"> <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Register" /> </form> </div> <div class="handset-only"> <a href="/subscribe/"><b>Subscribe</b></a> / <a href="/Login/"><b>Log in</b></a> / <a href="/Login/newaccount"><b>New account</b></a> </div> </div><div class="maincolumn flexcol"> <div class="middlecolumn"> <div class="PageHeadline"> <h1>Welcome to LWN.net</h1> </div> <div class="ArticleText"> <blockquote style="margin-top: 0"> LWN.net is a reader-supported news site dedicated to producing the best coverage from within the Linux and free software development communities. See <a href="/op/FAQ.lwn">the LWN FAQ</a> for more information, and please consider <a href="/subscribe/Info">subscribing</a> to gain full access and support our activities. </blockquote> <p> <div class="FPBox"><div class="FPLeft"> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] The rest of the 6.13 merge window</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Kernel] Posted Dec 2, 2024 14:51 UTC (Mon) by corbet</span> <p> The 6.13 merge window closed with the release of <a href="/Articles/1000378/">6.13-rc1</a> on December 1. By that time, 11,307 non-merge commits had been pulled into the mainline repository; about 9,500 of those landed after <a href="/Articles/998623/">our first-half merge-window summary</a> was written. There was a lot of new material in these patches, including architecture-support improvements, new BPF features, an efficient way to add guard pages to an address space, more Rust support, a vast number of new device drivers, and more. <p> <a href="/Articles/998990/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998990/#Comments">comments: none</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] GIMP 3.0 — a milestone for open-source image editing</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Development] Posted Nov 28, 2024 14:52 UTC (Thu) by rolandixor</span> <p> The long-awaited release of the <a href="https://gimp.org">GNU Image Manipulation Program</a> (GIMP) 3.0 is on the way, marking the first major update since version 2.10 <a href="https://www.gimp.org/news/2018/04/27/gimp-2-10-0-released/">was released</a> in April 2018. It now features a <a href="https://docs.gtk.org/gtk3/">GTK 3</a> user interface and GIMP 3.0 introduces significant changes to the core platform and plugins. This release also brings performance and usability improvements, as well as more compatibility with Wayland and complex input sources. <p> <a href="/Articles/998793/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998793/#Comments">comments: 18</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] The kernel's command-line commotion</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Kernel] Posted Nov 27, 2024 14:43 UTC (Wed) by corbet</span> <p> For the most part, the 6.13 merge window has gone smoothly, with relatively few problems or disagreements — other than <a href="/Articles/999197/">this one</a>, of course. There is one other exception, though, relating to the kernel's presentation of a process's command line to interested user-space observers when a relatively new system call is used. A pull request with a simple change to make that information more user-friendly ran afoul of Linus Torvalds, who has his own view of how it should be managed. <p> <a href="/Articles/999770/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/999770/#Comments">comments: 57</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] Arch Linux finally starts licensing PKGBUILDs</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Distributions] Posted Nov 26, 2024 16:40 UTC (Tue) by jzb</span> <p> <p><a href="https://archlinux.org/">Arch Linux</a> is popular as a <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch-based_distributions">base for other Linux distributions</a>; examples of Arch-derivatives include <a href="https://endeavouros.com/">EndeavourOS</a>, <a href="https://manjaro.org/">Manjaro</a>, <a href="https://www.parabola.nu/">Parabola</a>, and <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/steamos">SteamOS</a>. There's one small problem: the control files used to describe how to build packages for Arch Linux have no stated license. That creates a bit of uncertainty about the rights and responsibilities for the downstream derivatives. So far, that doesn't seem to have been a problem, nor has it stopped other projects from assuming that reuse is allowed. However, the Arch project is looking to add some clarity by explicitly assigning a liberal license to its package sources. Currently the project is in the process of reaching out to contributors to see if they have any objections.</p> <p> <a href="/Articles/998778/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998778/#Comments">comments: 52</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] NonStop discussion around adding Rust to Git</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Development] Posted Nov 22, 2024 15:13 UTC (Fri) by daroc</span> <p> <p> The Linux kernel community's discussions about including Rust have <a href="https://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/#Development_tools-Rust"> gotten a lot of attention</a>, but the kernel is not the only project wrestling with the question of whether to allow Rust. The Git project <a href="https://lwn.net/ml/git/ZZ77NQkSuiRxRDwt@nand.local/"> discussed</a> the prospect in January, and then <a href="https://lwn.net/ml/all/Zu2DmS30E0kKug2a@nand.local/"> again</a> at the Git Contributor's Summit in September. Complicating the discussion is the Git project's lack of a policy on platform support, and the fact that it does already have tools written in other languages. While the project has not committed to using or avoiding Rust, it seems like only a matter of time until maintainers will have to make a decision. </p> <p> <a href="/Articles/998115/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998115/#Comments">comments: 162</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] The beginning of the 6.13 merge window</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Kernel] Posted Nov 21, 2024 15:39 UTC (Thu) by corbet</span> <p> As of this writing, just over 1,800 non-merge changesets have been pulled into the mainline kernel for the 6.13 release. That number may seem small, given that a typical merge window brings in at least 12,000 commits, but the early pulls this time around have focused on significant core changes, and there are quite a few of them. The time has come to summarize the changes pulled so far, including lazy preemption, multi-grained timestamps, new extended-attribute system calls, and more. <p> <a href="/Articles/998623/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998623/#Comments">comments: 5</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] LWN.net Weekly Edition for November 21, 2024</h2> <span class="Smaller">Posted Nov 21, 2024 0:09 UTC (Thu)</span><p> The LWN.net Weekly Edition for November 21, 2024 is available. <p> <b>Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition</b> <ul> <li> <a href="/Articles/998144/">Front</a>: RVKMS; Loadable kernel modules; DMA two-step; 6.12 Development statistics; Fedora KDE edition; Running a mail server. <li> <a href="/Articles/998146/">Briefs</a>: Bhyve and Capsicum audit; PyPI digital attestation; AlmaLinux 9.5; Rocky Linux 9.5; Blender 4.3; CHICKEN 6; FreeCAD 1.0; Incus 6.7; Quotes; ... <li> <a href="/Articles/998147/">Announcements</a>: Newsletters; conferences; security updates; kernel patches; ... </ul> <a href="/Articles/998144/">Read more</a> <p> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] RVKMS and Rust KMS bindings</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Development] Posted Nov 20, 2024 15:39 UTC (Wed) by jake</span> <p> At the <a href="https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/6/">2024 X.Org Developers Conference</a> (XDC), Lyude Paul gave a talk on the work she has been doing as part of the <a href="https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nova">Nova project</a>, which is an <a href="/Articles/990736/">effort build an NVIDIA GPU driver in Rust</a>. She wanted to provide an introduction to <a href="/ml/all/20240930233257.1189730-36-lyude@redhat.com/">RVKMS</a>, which is being used to develop Rust kernel mode setting (KMS) bindings; RVKMS is a port of the <a href="https://docs.kernel.org/gpu/vkms.html">virtual KMS</a> (VKMS) driver to Rust. In addition, she wanted to give her opinion on Rust, and why she thinks it is a "<q>game-changer for the kernel</q>", noting that the reasons are not related to the oft-mentioned, "headline" feature of the language: memory safety. <p> <a href="/Articles/997850/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/997850/#Comments">comments: 1</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] Book review: Run Your Own Mail Server</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Security] Posted Nov 19, 2024 19:19 UTC (Tue) by jzb</span> <p> <p>The most common piece of advice given to users who ask about running their own mail server is <em><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/987566/">don't</a></em>. Setting up and securing a mail server in 2024 is not for the faint of heart, nor for anyone without copious spare time. Spammers want to flood inboxes with ads for questionable supplements, attackers want to abuse servers to send spam (or worse), and getting the big providers to accept mail from small servers is a constant uphill battle. Michael W. Lucas, however, encourages users to thumb their nose at the "<q>Email Empire</q>", and declare email independence. His self-published book, <em><a href="https://mwl.io/nonfiction/tools#ryoms">Run Your Own Mail Server</a></em>, provides a manual (and manifesto) for users who are interested in the challenge.</p> <p> <a href="/Articles/998153/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/998153/#Comments">comments: 59</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">[<span class="Subscription">$</span>] Development statistics for 6.12</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Kernel] Posted Nov 18, 2024 16:31 UTC (Mon) by corbet</span> <p> Linus Torvalds <a href="/ml/all/CAHk-=wgtGkHshfvaAe_O2ntnFBH3EprNk1juieLmjcF2HBwBgQ@mail.gmail.com/">released the 6.12 kernel</a> on November 17, as expected. This development cycle, the last for 2024, brought 13,344 non-merge changesets into the mainline kernel; that made it a relatively slow cycle from this perspective, but 6.12 includes a long list of significant new features. The time has come to look at where those changes came from, and to look at the year-long LTS cycle as well. <p> <a href="/Articles/997959/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/997959/#Comments">comments: 1</a>) <p> </div> </div> <div class="FPRight"> <h2 class="Headline">NixOS 24.11 released</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Distributions] Posted Dec 2, 2024 17:26 UTC (Mon) by jake</span> <p> The most recent version of <a href="https://nixos.org/">NixOS</a>, 24.11, was <a href="https://nixos.org/blog/announcements/2024/nixos-2411/">released</a> on November 30. It contains GNOME 47, Plasma 6.2, LLVM 19, and lots more: <blockquote class="bq"> The 24.11 release was made possible due to the efforts of <b>2669</b> contributors, who authored <b>49079</b> commits since the previous release. Our thanks go the contributors who also take care of the continued stability and security of our stable release. <p> NixOS is already known as <a href="https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/newest">the most up to date distribution</a> while also being <a href="https://repology.org/repositories/statistics/total">the distribution with the most packages</a>. This release saw <b>8141 new</b> packages and <b>20975 updated</b> packages in Nixpkgs. We also <b>removed 3970</b> packages in an effort to keep the package set maintainable and secure. </blockquote> <p> <a href="/Articles/1000469/#Comments">Comments (none posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Security updates for Monday</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Security] Posted Dec 2, 2024 15:37 UTC (Mon) by jake</span> <p> Security updates have been issued by <b>Debian</b> (dnsmasq, editorconfig-core, lemonldap-ng, proftpd-dfsg, python3.9, simplesamlphp, tgt, and xfpt), <b>Fedora</b> (qbittorrent, webkitgtk, and wireshark), <b>Mageia</b> (libsoup3 & libsoup), <b>Red Hat</b> (buildah, grafana, grafana-pcp, and podman), <b>SUSE</b> (gimp, kernel, postgresql14, python, webkit2gtk3, xen, and zabbix), and <b>Ubuntu</b> (ansible and postgresql-12, postgresql-14, postgresql-16). <p> <a href="/Articles/1000465/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/1000465/#Comments">comments: none</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Kernel prepatch 6.13-rc1</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Kernel] Posted Dec 1, 2024 23:24 UTC (Sun) by corbet</span> <p> Linus has released <a href="/Articles/1000378/">6.13-rc1</a> and closed the merge window for this release. "<q>And for once - possibly the first time ever - it looks like the release cycle doesn't clash horribly up with the holiday season, and we'll have time both to stabilize this release, _and_ the work for 6.14 won't be starting until well into January.</q>" <p> <a href="/Articles/1000379/">Comments (none posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Rust 1.83.0 released</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Development] Posted Nov 30, 2024 15:40 UTC (Sat) by corbet</span> <p> <a href="https://blog.rust-lang.org/2024/11/28/Rust-1.83.0.html">Version 1.83.0</a> of the Rust language has been released. <p> <blockquote class="bq"> This release includes several large extensions to what code running in <tt>const</tt> contexts can do. This refers to all code that the compiler has to evaluate at compile-time: the initial value of <tt>const</tt> and <tt>static</tt> items, array lengths, enum discriminant values, const generic arguments, and functions callable from such contexts (<tt>const fn</tt>). </blockquote> <p> There are also quite a few new stabilized APIs. <p> <a href="/Articles/1000273/">Comments (10 posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">The OpenWrt One router is now shipping</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Briefs] Posted Nov 30, 2024 15:30 UTC (Sat) by corbet</span> <p> The OpenWrt One router, which <a href="/Articles/994961/">was reviewed here</a> recently, <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/news/2024/nov/29/openwrt-one-wireless-router-now-ships-black-friday/">is now generally available</a>. <p> <blockquote class="bq"> This is the first wireless Internet router designed and built with your software freedom and right to repair in mind. The OpenWrt One will never be locked down and is forever unbrickable. This device services your needs as its owner and user. Everyone deserves control of their computing. The OpenWrt One takes a great first step toward bringing software rights to your home: you can control your own network with the software of your choice, and ensure your right to change, modify, and repair it as you like. </blockquote> <p> <a href="/Articles/1000272/">Comments (18 posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Security updates for Friday</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Security] Posted Nov 29, 2024 14:09 UTC (Fri) by daroc</span> <p> Security updates have been issued by <b>Debian</b> (firefox-esr, redis, twisted, and tzdata), <b>Fedora</b> (firefox, nss, pam, rust-rustls, rust-zlib-rs, thunderbird, tuned, and xen), and <b>SUSE</b> (cobbler, kernel, libjxl-devel, libuv, postgresql12, postgresql14, postgresql15, python-waitress, seamonkey, tomcat, and tomcat10). <p> <a href="/Articles/1000185/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/1000185/#Comments">comments: 2</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Giving thanks for the LWN community</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Briefs] Posted Nov 28, 2024 21:56 UTC (Thu) by daroc</span> <p> <p> Earlier today, one of our subscribers, anselm, posted the <a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/1000000/">one millionth</a> item in our database during a discussion in the comments about the GPL. One million articles and comments is a big milestone — one representing twenty two years of work by both the editors of LWN and the community. I think reaching this milestone on Thanksgiving is a lovely coincidental reminder of how far LWN has come, and how that wouldn't have been possible without your support. So thank you for reading. </p> <p> <a href="/Articles/1000097/">Comments (38 posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Security updates for US Thanksgiving (Thursday)</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Security] Posted Nov 28, 2024 14:51 UTC (Thu) by jake</span> <p> Security updates have been issued by <b>Debian</b> (firefox-esr, netatalk, and thunderbird), <b>Fedora</b> (firefox, libsoup3, mingw-glib2, mingw-libsoup, mingw-python-waitress, mingw-python3, nss, perl-Module-ScanDeps, php, and python-aiohttp), <b>Mageia</b> (dcmtk, golang, iptraf-ng, libsndfile, microcode, php, postgresql15 & postgresql13, rapidjson, tomcat, wget, and zbar), <b>Red Hat</b> (openssl and openssl-fips-provider, toolbox, and webkit2gtk3), <b>SUSE</b> (firefox, frr, glib2, hplip, kernel, neomutt-20241114, ovmf, python-aiohttp, python-virtualenv, python310-tornado6, qemu, webkit2gtk3, and xen), and <b>Ubuntu</b> (mpg123 and vim). <p> <a href="/Articles/1000084/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/1000084/#Comments">comments: none</a>) <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Elementary OS 8 released</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Distributions] Posted Nov 27, 2024 16:10 UTC (Wed) by jzb</span> <p> <p><a href="https://blog.elementary.io/os-8-available-now/">Version 8</a> of the Ubuntu-based <a href="https://elementary.io/">elementary OS</a> has been released. This release includes a rewritten Dock, new window-management features, improvements in the installation and initial setup procedures for visually impaired users, as well as a new Secure Session mode:</p> <blockquote class="bq"> In the Secure Session, apps will be more restricted and will require your consent for access to system features. When an app wants to listen in the background for your keystrokes, take a screenshot, record the screen, or even pick up the color from a single pixel, you will be asked first to make sure that it's okay. The Secure Session also comes with other modern features like support for Mixed DPI modes—A hotly requested feature for folks using a HiDPI notebook or tablet with a LoDPI external display—and improved support for multi-touch gestures on touch screens and tablets. </blockquote> <p></p> <p> <a href="/Articles/999910/#Comments">Comments (4 posted)</a> <p> </div> <h2 class="Headline">Security updates for Wednesday</h2> <div class="BlurbListing"> <span class="Smaller">[Security] Posted Nov 27, 2024 14:34 UTC (Wed) by jzb</span> <p> Security updates have been issued by <b>Debian</b> (mpg123 and php8.2), <b>Fedora</b> (libsndfile, mingw-glib2, mingw-libsoup, mingw-python3, and qbittorrent), <b>Oracle</b> (pam:1.5.1 and perl-App-cpanminus), <b>Red Hat</b> (firefox, thunderbird, and webkit2gtk3), <b>Slackware</b> (mozilla), <b>SUSE</b> (firefox, rclone, tomcat, tomcat10, and xen), and <b>Ubuntu</b> (gh, libsoup2.4, libsoup3, pygments, TinyGLTF, and twisted). <p> <a href="/Articles/999897/">Full Story</a> (<a href="/Articles/999897/#Comments">comments: none</a>) <p> </div> </div> </div> <p><a href="/Articles/?offset=10">--> More news items</a> </div>  </div>  <div class="rightcol not-print"> <div id="azk93271_right_zone"></div> </div> </div>  <br clear="all"> <center> <P> <span class="ReallySmall"> Copyright © 2024, Eklektix, Inc.<BR> Comments and public postings are copyrighted by their creators.<br> Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds<br> </span> </center> </body></html>

CINXE.COM

Welcome to LWN.net [LWN.net]