Linux News: Systemd, Linux 3.14 Release, Future Releases
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-03 11:38:39 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-03 11:38:39 UTC
Systemd
Systemd has been working on network support for this leading open-source init system. As part of this, systemd developers have now achieved support for obtaining a network connection in less than one millisecond... With that said, systemd developers are working towards having DHCP client and server capabilities built into the init system for having a super-fast booting OS and quicker network connections when resuming the system.
When systemd sees "debug" as part of the kernel command-line, it will spit out so much informaiton about the system that it fails to boot... The init system just collapses the system with too much information being sent to the dmesg when seeing the debug option as part of the kernel command-line parameter. Within the systemd bug report it was suggested for systemd not to look for a simple "debug" string to go into its debug mode but perhaps something like "systemd.debug" or other namespaced alternatives. The debug kernel command-line parameter has been used by upstream Linux kernel developers for many years. However, upstream systemd developers don't agree about changing their debug code detection. Kay Sievers of Red Hat wrote, "Generic terms are generic, not the first user owns them."
kGraft
SUSE has released kGraft to the public, the technology it developed to deliver live runtime patching of the Linux kernel.
Kgraft, which allows live patching of the Linux kernel without downtime, is available under the GPLv3 license
Future Releases
The highlights covered by Daniel for "neat" i915 DRM 3.15 changes include per-process address space support (currently limited to Ivy Bridge and Haswell but Bay Trail and Broadwell support is coming), fine-grained display power domain handling, runtime power management infrastructure work, support for inheriting the firmware frame-buffer as another step in Fastboot support, a lot of Broadwell patches, improved support for frame-buffer compression, 5.4GHz DIsplayPort support, generic DisplayPort aux helpers, and large cursor support to benefit HiDPI displays. For Intel's 4K display support, they now support 5.4GHz DisplayPort but they don't yet support multi-stream support (MST) as most 4K DisplayPort screens expose themselves as two displays to the driver.
There's many bug and performance fixes that landed while some corruption fixes and other patches will land later in the 3.15 merge window. The Btrfs code was also changed to avoid using its own async threads in favor of regular kernel work-queues, in hopes of using more generic code, but it might affect the file-system's performance.
Hopefully the Linux kernel LTO support will finish up in the Linux 3.15 kernel otherwise Linux 3.16 so we can move onward with some benchmarks of an LTO-optimized Linux kernel to see the performance wins at the cost of greater compile times and memory usage during the compilation process. It's worth noting that with the upcoming GCC 4.9 are also some significant link-time optimization enhancements.
With the Linux 3.14 kernel that was released over the night, Intel UMS support was deprecated. Intel hasn't maintained their user-space mode-setting support on Linux in about a half-decade with pushing everything these days through kernel-based mode-setting. The Radeon and Nouveau drivers have also become completely dependent upon kernel mode-setting too, with user-space mode-setting these days mostly being left to really old X.Org drivers without a DRM/KMS module. Modern Linux distributions are also beginning to drop support for these old GPUs.
Latest Release
After adding an extra release candidate to solidify the final result -- to the tune of a week's delay -- Linux creator Linus Torvalds on Sunday unleashed version 3.14 of the Linux kernel.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, formally released the Linux 3.14 kernel March 30. The new 3.14 Linux kernel follows the Linux 3.13 kernel that was released in January. Given that the new kernel carries the release number 3.14, which is a number that is also well-known as the mathematical Pi constant, there was early speculation that Torvalds might name the new kernel Pi. It's something that Torvalds shot down early on in the Linux 3.14 development process.
Latest Linux kernel has baked-in support for more cutting-edge ARM and MIPS processors, adds hardware support for Xen paravirtualuzation
While no official announcement has come down yet, the Linux 3.14 kernel will most likely be released in the hours ahead.
Kernel Level Misc.
Jovi Zhangwei, the lead KTAP developer, has posted the 28 patches implementing KTAP on the Linux kernel mailing list and is looking for code review in hopes it will be accepted into the mainline Linux kernel. KTAP is a script-based dynamic tracing tool that has a powerful scripting language, a register-based interpreter, is considered lightweight, and supports multiple architectures. The currently supported architectures for KTAP include x86/x86_64, ARM, PowerPC, and MIPS.
Linux kernel block maintainer, Btrfs lead developer and new Facebook employee Chris Mason revealed the news at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit in Napa Valley on Thursday, Phoronix reported. Mason said that Facebook will trial Btrfs in its "web tier" servers, explaining that's the easiest tier to recover if necessary, though we imagine Facebook might ask the NSA for its backup copy in the event of disaster.
This small but important change would support a cgroup to swap to a particular file as setup by a new control file. This change is to allow the limiting of cgroups to a given swap file without being able to thrash the entire system's swap file. With this set of three patches, individual cgroups can be limited in their swap capacity.
Graphics Stack
While most of the open-source driver efforts around accelerating 2D with OpenGL are centered on GLAMOR, a set of patches were published today that provide performance improvements to the XA Gallium3D state tracker that also accelerate 2D using 3D driver code.
Benchmarks
Recent Techrights' Posts
- If You Value Privacy, Follow the Likes of Eben Moglen, Phil Zimmermann, and Richard Stallman, Not Back Doors' Boosters Who Mislabel Themselves as Security Experts
- Signal is not really secure
- Writer's Block is Not a Problem to Us, Only a Lack of Time
- Or timewasting by aggressive militants who try to silence us [...] People who experience writer's block very often find it depressing (it feels unproductive) and sometimes come to the conclusion that perhaps writing isn't for them
- March Plans for Techrights
- next month we plan to start the series about how the SRA failed
-
- [Video] "New RMS [Richard Stallman] Positive Media" Reaches Millions of Viewers This Week
- Assuming 5+ million people will watch this on the first week, that's good publicity for the Free software movement
- Another Quiet Slop Day Passes By
- the number of slopfarms we can locate/track is fast decreasing
- Gemini Links 26/02/2026: Sending a Thesis and Lupa/Onion ("Lupa now lists Gemini .onion addresses")
- Links for the day
- Links 26/02/2026: Bcachefs Man Bonkers, "Seven Journalists Convicted for Taking Photos at Courtroom"
- Links for the day
- Links 26/02/2026: "Peak Mental Sharpness" and "The Whole Economy Pays the Amazon Tax"
- Links for the day
- "Community" Site Deleted by Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Had Interview Where Eben Moglen Spoke of GPLv3 and of DRM, Back Doors Etc.
- Deleting what happened or what was said two decades ago
- Richard Stallman (Free Software Foundation) and Eben Moglen (Columbia Law School) Explained 25 Years Ago That Proprietary Software (and Proprietary Firmware) Would Lead to Back Doors
- a fortnight after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US
- Giving to the Community Versus Taking From the Community (or Worse, Attacking the Community)
- some people bring no contributions, only harm
- LLM Slop Will Try to 'Rewrite' History of UNIX and GNU/Linux
- We occasionally see slopfarms spreading misinformation about UNIX, GNU, and Linux
- Where Does the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Stand on Machine-Generated Legal Documents and Copy-pasting One Client's Lawsuit to Start Another (for American Serial Strangler)?
- Now that many law firms cheat (copypasta, paper DOoS, LLM slop, breaches of rules, even defaming the other side) the SRA cannot keep up
- Of Course Android is Not Free Software
- That Android is not about freedom should not be so shocking
- Talking About Blackboxes
- Having just reposted a couple of articles from Alex Oliva
- Microsoft Slop is Already Killing XBox
- Microsoft will fail at alleviating such concerns
- Two Weeks Have Passed and It Looks Like Conde Nast's Ars Sloppica Sacked "Senior" "AI" "Reporter" Benj Edwards But Did Not Remove All His LLM-Produced 'Articles'
- the editorial standards at Conde Nast's Ars Sloppica are a joke
- Alex Oliva (GNU Linux-Libre): Stricter is Less Popular
- Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
- Fraud and Crimes at Microsoft
- A lot of these American companies simply cheat and even bribe
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- FSF's Alex Oliva on Hardware Black Boxes
- Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
- What Microsoft Hides Underneath
- In recent years a lot of this shell game was played via "Open" "AI" [sic]
- A Lot of Slopfarms Died, Google News Feeds the Few Which Survived and Still Target "Linux"
- Many just simply died
- Links 25/02/2026: Fifth Year of War in Ukraine, Dihydroxyacetone Man Looking to Start More Wars
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Retired a Year, Illness, Losing a Lung, and "Back to Gemini"
- Links for the day
- The Register MS Published a Ponzi Scheme-Boosting Fake Article This Morning. It Mentions "AI" 30 Times.
- Will credibility be left after the bubble pops entirely?
- They Try to Ruin Linux, Too ("Attestation" in GNU/Linux)
- In the context of Web browsers, this isn't unprecedented and we wrote a lot about it
- Mozzarella Company: All Our Cheese Comes With Mold Now, But You Can Ask the Seller to Remove the Mold
- If you reject and oppose slop, do not download/use Firefox
- Stallman Was Right About Back Doors
- I had some conversations with Dr. Stallman about security and back doors
- Australian Signals Directorate ex-employee sold back doors to Russia
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- IBM Debt-Loading and Liability (Toxic Asset) Offloading
- One can hope that IBM will be subjected to the same attention Kyndryl received, but this boils down to politics
- Links 25/02/2026: 'Hybrid Warfare' and "Boycott the State of the Union"
- Links for the day
- IBM (and Red Hat) Can Disappear in the Coming Years, Along With Kyndryl (Debt Twice as Big as Its 'Worth')
- No wonder Red Hat workers tell us they hate IBM
- Software Freedom is Science, But It Also Sustains Life
- In some sense, Software Freedom can be explained in the context of nourishing people
- “Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted."
- There has been a lot of narrative control lately, including at 9PM on a Friday
- 3,300 Capsules Known to Lupa and Currently Accessible
- Gemini Protocol turns 7 this summer
- When it Comes to Firmware, the FSF and Its Founder RMS Won the Argument (But Not the Fight, Yet)
- The "whataboutism" tactics are physiological manipulation means of discouraging those who move in the correct direction
- Austria Tackles Digital Weapon Disguised as "Social" and/or "Media"
- Are we seeing the end days of Social Control Media?
- Nothing Over the Horizon for XBox
- XBox is not even being sold in many places anymore
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Contradicting Itself: You Can Use Slop to Cheat Clients, But You Can Also Face Disciplinary Actions Over Slop
- Where does the SRA stand on the matter?
- In Praise of Eben Moglen
- Hopefully Professor Moglen will be with us for many decades to come and become an active speaker on issues such as Software Freedom
- Sunsetting IBM (for the Benefit of Few Corrupt Officials and Wall Street Speculators)
- IBM will not (and cannot) survive for much longer [...] The issue is bad leadership, not any particular nationality/race
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 24, 2026
- Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Rise of Solar in 2025 and Smallnet Protocols
- Links for the day
- HR Blunder at IBM or IBM Struggling With Money?
- Weird for such an allegedly rich company to be so stingy
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: x86 Computer In-Browser and Administration
- Links for the day
- Envy is the #1 Enemy of Richard Stallman
- Whenever you see someone mocking Richard Stallman, ask yourself: does this person have a reason to be jealous of Richard Stallman?
- Life is Sweeter When Less Means More
- People need to think "small", not "big" (as in capital)
- Championing a Cause
- Probably over 100 million GNU/Linux users on laptops/desktops
- Balmoral rape cult & Debian suicide cluster indifference, community
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Father of XBox Says What Microsoft Does Not Want to Hear About XBox (They All Know It's Dead)
- Microsoft just worried shareholders will find out Sharma is "just a face" and an undertaker
- Can Much Longer Can the Financial 'Press' (Pump-n-Dump Megaphone) Cheer for IBM's Accounting Enigma?
- IBM has fallen almost 25%
- France Needs to Focus on Software Freedom, Not Flags
- We need more SIP advocacy!
- Combatting Censorship in the "Civilised World": The Media Blackout Surrounding EPO Strikes and Other Large-Scale Actions
- We - collectively speaking - cannot afford to keep the Office in the hands of a "Mafia"
- Religious or Not, Consider Quitting Social Control Networks (All of Them) This Season
- Lent is a good time to quit addiction such as social control media
- EPO Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions Are Effective When Management Fears the Staff and Staff No Longer Fears Any Managers
- 'António the unready' should get ready to be ousted
- Liberating the Self From the Invisible Prison of Plutocrats-Controlled Media and Social Control Media
- Can you always see the full picture or does something (someone powerful) obstruct it?
- Links 24/02/2026: Drug Cartel Decapitated, Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Promotes Slop and Buzzwords at MWC Barcelona 2026
- Links for the day
- 2023: Layoffs Are Because of "AI". 2024: Shares Up Owing to "AI". 2025: Shares Recently Fell Due to "AI". 2026 Forbes (Paid by IBM): Shares Falling is Good!
- "AI" is smoke and mirrors
- Bitcoin: Code of Conduct stifled open source concerns
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Slop Boosters and 'Hype Agents' Render Themselves Irrelevant and the General Public Becomes Incredulous Due to "Bros Who Cry Wolf!"
- It won't age well
- "Half-baked Vibe Code Shipped Full of Errors"
- Seems timely after our latest article
- IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books
- language-to-language conversion (in the context of programming) is nothing new
- Links 24/02/2026: Copyright Litigation Over Anne Frank’s Diary, "Arrogance of Developers"
- Links for the day
- Another New Low for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): Authorising Slop Disguised as "Legal Advice"
- SRA is a lapdog - not a watchdog - of the "litigation industry"
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IV - "Many Jobs Were Given to Spanish Employees for No Related Skills At All"
- The EPO's fate might be similar to that of the XBox
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Hardware Tinkering and Slop Bots Attacking the "Small Web"
- Links for the day
- Quitting Reddit (Social Control Media Controlled by Conde Nast)
- There is a new post in Reddit
- IBM is the World Champion at Layoffs and There Are Reportedly More Layoffs in IBM This Month (EU)
- IBM fired 60,000 in 1993
- Free Software is for Everyone
- Young and old, rich and poor etc.
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Voltage Divider on Slide Rule and Many Raspberry Pi Projects
- Links for the day
- Links 24/02/2026: Telephone Turns 150, Political News Catchup, and Rearmament
- Links for the day
- Asha Sharma "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides Xbox Gently Into the Night"
- 2026 will probably be the last year of XBox
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 23, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, February 23, 2026