From Alan Cox’s website,
come the release
notes for the latest production kernel, 2.2.12.
Any erratas regarding this kernel will be posted at the release
notes page on Alan’s server.
Linux 2.2.12 Release
Notes
Platforms:Alpha (see notes),
PowerPC, Sparc, X86
Introduction
Linux 2.2.12 is the latest update to the Linux kernel tree. It
fixes the memory leak bug in the 2.2.11 kernel. In addition it
updates various drivers and the platform specific support. The out
of the box tree supports the Alpha, PPC, Sparc and X86 platforms.
MIPS is mostly merged but you should obtain the platform specific
tree. It is hoped MIPS and PowerPC will soon be fully merged. ARM
and M680x0 users should get their platform specific tree.
Known Bugs
On the Alpha platform we know the new maths code currently fails
some glibc maths checks. The Alpha port people are looking into
this. Expect patches soon.
Compilers
This code is intended to build with gcc 2.7.2 and egcs 1.1.2. It is
known that not all of it builds validly on the x86 CPU’s with gcc
2.95. As far as we know these are Linux not gcc issues. Fixes for
gcc 2.95 to gcc 3.0 may go into Linux 2.2 in time. You should
therefore not use gcc 2.95 to build stable kernels for the
moment.
Binary Compatibility
Linux 2.2.12 changes a few internal system structures. You may need
to rebuild a few third party modules such as pcmcia-cs when
upgrading from older kernels to this one.
Security Notes
The TCP fixes in the 2.2.12 kernel for the memory leak and Solaris
food fight are the only security updates. You can obtain them
seperately to 2.2.12 from the 2.2.11 release notes. Linux 2.2.11
with the errata is believed to be as secure as 2.2.12 unless you
are trying to use strictly enforced capability sets. In which case
you may wish to apply the fs/proc/array.c patch from 2.2.12 to get
precisely the same security.
Architecture Updates
- Alpha
- Further changes have been made to the maths
emulation support.
A bug where the floppy drive may be unusable for alternating
periods of 49.7 days has been fixed.
The Symbios cache test should now pass and the SCSI work
properly. - i386
- Optimisations for the IDT Winchip.
Identify and report the AMD Athlon.
Fix a crash on boot with the AMD Athlon. - MIPS
- Fix a timeout scheduling error in the dz
driver. - PowerPC
- All the PPC changes should now be merged.
- Sparc
- A problem with the viking MMU code has been
fixed.
A small Sparc64 kernel_thread change.
Core Updates
- File Handles
- The kernel now supports large numbers of file
handles per process. The default remains unchanged but can be
raised by processes. - Memory Limits
- Certain parts of the kernel didn’t correctly
interpret RLIM_INFINITY and enforced 2Gig limits. - Mlock
- Munlock was checking for CAP_IPC_LOCK when it should
only be required to lock memory. - Quota
- Fixed a pair of accounting errors in the quota
code.
Driver Updates
- Computone Intelliport 2
- A driver for this card under Linux has been
included. - DAC960
- The DAC960 driver has been updated.
- ESS Solo
- An experimental driver for this PCI sound card is
now included. - Iomega Buz
- A Zoran ZR36067 driver for video capture including
MJPEG capture is now included. This works with the Iomega buz but
does not yet support the LML33. - ISDN
- The ISDN fax patches have been merged. The hisax
driver now passes certification with some ELSA cards.
Fix a buffer headroom issue with compression and ISDN ppp. - MAD16
- The MAD16 driver now defaults to not enabling its on
board CD port. This avoids problems with users not being aware the
default may interfere with other drivers. - Multitech ISI driver
- Support for PCI interrupt sharing is now
included. - PCWD Watchdog
- Revision A boards reported their status
incorrectly. - Soundblaster
- A case where IRQ 0 may be erroneously freed has been
fixed. - VisWs Sound
- The SGI visual workstation onboard audio is now
supported. - VisWs Video
- The SGI visual workstation onboard video driver has
been improved.
File System Updates
- Welsh Language
- ISO 8859-14 (The Celtic languages) is now supported
for UTF8 translations.
Miscellaneous Updates
- ChangeLog
- The Changelog has been updated to reflect newer
tools. - Documentation
- Various documents have been updated.
Network Updates
- Alteon AceNIC
- Small changes have been made to reduce its interrupt
load and increase performance further. - Interphase 5526
- This fibre channel chipset is now supported under
Linux - RTL8139
- A sign handling bug has been fixed that might have
caused memory leakage. - SB1000
- The errata patch for the SB1000 has been folded into
the 2.2.12 kernel. This driver is now functional. - SiS900
- This driver has been updated further.
SCSI Updates
- PAS-16
- The module now allows you to set the I/O and
IRQ. - Symbios controller
- The symbios 53C876 revision 32 is now
supported.
Security Updates
- /proc/kcore
- The RAWIO capability is now needed to access
/proc/kcore. - Memory leak from TCP
- This is the nasty bug fixed in the 2.2.11 errata.
The fix is also in 2.2.12. - Solaris food fight
- This TCP fringe case has been fixed.
- Tightened capabilities
- We have tightened the capabilities needed for
setting frame buffer bases to include RAWIO.