Open-source News

Memory Folios Merged For Linux 5.16

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 06:47
The proposed memory "folios" functionality for Linux 5.16 is happening! This low-level change to the Linux memory management code was merged today for this next kernel...

GCC & LLVM Patches Pending To Fend Off Trojan Source Attacks

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 06:11
Making rounds today are the "Trojan Source" attacks by which text displayed to the end-user/developer doesn't match what is actually being executed. The problem stems from Unicode standards and could lead to malicious code being inadvertently introduced into upstream code-bases that could be overlooked during code review processes, etc. GCC and LLVM/Clang are among the early compilers preparing defenses against Trojan Source style attacks...

Many Block Improvements Land In Linux 5.16 - Multi-Actuator Hard Drive Support

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 03:40
The big set of block changes for Linux 5.16 were merged today with the opening of the new kernel cycle. While the massive I/O optimizations tackled recently has been a main focus, there is also much more to the block subsystem coming with Linux 5.16...

MPV 0.34 Released For Popular Linux Media Player

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 02:33
MPV 0.34 is now available as the newest version of this popular Linux video player that is powered by FFmpeg and forked originally from MPlayer/mplayer2 code...

Linux 5.16 Loosens The Spectre Defaults Around SSBD / STIBP

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 02:13
Linux 5.16 is adjusting its default Spectre mitigation behavior around Spectre V2 for user-space tasks as well as Speculative Store Bypass Disable (SSBD) for Spectre V4 mitigation...

Google Will Now Pay $31,337 To $50,337 For New Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities

Phoronix - Tue, 11/02/2021 - 01:21
Google announced today that now through at least the end of January they will be providing higher payment amounts for security researchers disclosing new vulnerabilities affecting the Linux kernel...

FWUPD 1.7.1 Adds Support For Firmware Updates On More Devices

Phoronix - Mon, 11/01/2021 - 21:30
FWUPD 1.7.1 is out today as the newest release of this leading open-source solution for allowing firmware updates from UEFI motherboards to various peripherals under Linux and other platforms...

Linux 5.15 Is This Year's LTS Kernel

Phoronix - Mon, 11/01/2021 - 20:40
As we approach the end of the calendar year there was some uncertainty whether Linux 5.15 would be this year's Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel or if it would be Linux 5.16 albeit not likely releasing until the start of 2022.....

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