August 25th, 1991
That’s right, it’s been 30 years since 21-year-old Finnish student Linus Benedict Torvalds made his now-famous announcement on the day of August 25th, 1991, on the comp.os.minix news group, saying that he is working on a free operating system for 386(486) AT clones as a “hobby.”
https://9to5linux.com/happy-30th-birthday-linux
65 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
When you finish celebrating Linux turning 30, try new Linux 5.14, says Linus Torvalds
‘We have another 30 years to look forward to,’ says Emperor Penguin – and less to worry about as Spectre-proofing code arrives
https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/30/linux_5_14/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds: Get ready for another 30 years of Linux
Linux has changed the tech world over the past three decades, but there’s plenty more to come.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-get-ready-for-another-30-years-of-linux/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux 5.14 Release – Main changes, Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V architectures
https://www.cnx-software.com/2021/08/30/linux-5-14-release-main-changes-arm-mips-and-risc-v-architectures/
Linus Torvalds has just announced Linux 5.14 release which happens to almost coincide with the anniversary of the initial announcement of the “small” project on August 25, 1991, about 30 years ago. Here’s Linux 5.14’s announcement
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/zorinos-16-is-exactly-what-a-linux-desktop-distribution-should-be/
In the past 20+ years, I’ve used and tested more Linux distributions than I can remember. Many of those variations on an open-source theme were good. Some of them were very good. A few of them have been great. But only a handful have been truly inspired. Of that long list of distributions, I’d consider the likes of Pop!_OS COSMIC, Deepin Linux, Linux Mint and elementaryOS to be of the inspiring sort.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.howtogeek.com/754345/linux-turns-30-how-a-hobby-project-conquered-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
On September 17, 1991, Linus Torvalds released Linux kernel (version 0.01) for the first time. Here’s a brief look at how a small hobby project grew up and enveloped the world—and what has made Linux endure for so long.
https://www.howtogeek.com/754345/linux-turns-30-how-a-hobby-project-conquered-the-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
GitHub merges ‘useless garbage’ says Linus Torvalds as new NTFS support added to Linux kernel 5.15
Also: Compiler warnings now treated as errors by default in kernel builds
https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/06/github_merges_useless_garbage_says/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compromise reached as Linux kernel community protests about treating compiler warnings as errors
‘Years of pain’ behind the change, said Torvalds, but with Clang a problem it has been weakened
https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/08/compromise_linux_kernel_compiler_warnings/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds antoi koodarien verkkopalvelusta murhaavan tylyä palautetta: ”Hyödytöntä roskaa, sotkee kaiken täysin, ei pitäisi ikinä käyttää”
Jori Virtanen11.9.202119:52KÄYTTÖJÄRJESTELMÄTLINUXAVOIN LÄHDEKOODI
Linuxin luoja ei arvosta Githubin verkkosivuston käyttöliittymää.
https://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/uutiset/linus-torvalds-antoi-koodarien-verkkopalvelusta-murhaavan-tylya-palautetta-hyodytonta-roskaa-sotkee-kaiken-taysin-ei-pitaisi-ikina-kayttaa/3d84d64c-b54d-4107-b2a7-47ccf7eb27b80
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tivi.fi/uutiset/torvalds-myontaa-itse-aiheuttamaani-vauriota/c5c70330-ccb0-4d76-82e4-1417d37e66ff
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds: Juggling chainsaws and building Linux
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-juggling-chainsaws-and-building-linux/
At Open Source Summit, Linus Torvalds described his early career, how he built Linux and his continuing love for the C programming language.
Thirty years ago, give or take, Linus Torvalds created Linux. At the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit last week, Torvalds talked with his good friend and VMware VP and chief open-source officer Dirk Hohndel about Linux’s history.
First things first, they talked about the actual date of Linux’s birthday. Hohndel noted that Torvalds “has redefined the birthday of Linux everyone used to use — August 25 — and then said, ‘well, actually it’s September’.” Indeed Torvalds and I have talked about this very point before, and you can choose between four dates for Linux’s “official” birthday.
What did he expect to happen once Linux was out in the wild? It certainly wasn’t for it to become the world’s dominant server, device, and cloud operating system.
Torvalds remembered, “I was at university, but it was never a university project. So I didn’t really talk to anybody about it, except for five people I emailed about the 0.01 release.” He told them, “Hey, I put it up like I promised.” And that was that.
Torvalds admitted, “open source changed everything. Suddenly, this project that I probably would have left behind if it was only up to me, I started getting questions about and, and eventually patches, and that just kept the motivation going. And here we are 30 years later. And it’s still what keeps the motivation going. Because, as far as I’m concerned, it’s been done for 29 of those 30 years. And every single feature ever since has been about things that other people needed or wanted or were interested in.”
Torvalds explained, “It is really hard to start taking patches from other people because they’re not quite to, I wouldn’t say your standards, but they’re not what you’re used to. So for the first three or four months of people actually sending me patches, I would look at the patches, and I would read the patches just to understand what they wanted done. And then I would rewrite the code entirely.”
That was, needless to say, a lot of work. Too much work. Today, Torvalds confessed, “I might have continued doing that for much too long. But I’m fundamentally lazy. And at some point, I just decided this is stupid.” So, he “just started applying patches, which actually makes everybody so much happier, because it’s very frustrating as a developer, to send patches upstream, and then have the upstream maintainer basically throw your patch away, and then rewrite it. And you go like, what am I chopped liver?”
Torvalds then realized this wasn’t “good for the community. So it’s very important for the maintainer to just relax a bit and say, ‘Okay, I’m not this control freak person.’ And I actually want to spend my time on other things than rewriting other people’s patches.”
Torvalds also talked about how Rust is making its way into Linux. Hohndel introduced the subject, saying, “I was really intrigued by this idea of Rust kernel modules because Rust is the golden pet project of so many people with a security focus. I was very surprised to see how someone like you who is very much a through-and-through C programmer was to this idea of introducing Rust modules to the kernel.”
Torvalds answered, “I think C is a great language. To me, it’s really a way to control the hardware at a fairly low level.” That said, “it is so close to the hardware that you can do anything with it. It is dangerous. It’s like juggling chainsaws. I also see that it does have a lot of pitfalls and they’re easy to overlook. And in a kernel, that’s not always a good thing. It’s good when it comes to things like low-level memory management, where you’re literally setting up the virtual memory map for a process. But, in many other situations, you don’t want it. Rust was the first language I saw which looked like this might actually be a solution to the other part of the problem, not the control of the machine at the lowest possible level so that you can read the machine code and match it up with the C code. But to the problem where you just want to get the job done of writing a driver or a file system.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reading Kernel Source Code – Analysis of an Exploit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIAP1_NrSbY
Last video we looked at a kernel exploit against SerenityOS Kernel. This video we dig deep into the sources to find out why the vulnerability exists. After that we even attempt to find our own exploit.
00:00 – Intro
00:27 – Part 1 – Linux vs. Serenity
01:17 – Finding ptrace() in Linux
01:31 – Finding ptrace() in Serenity
02:12 – Comparing Linux and Serenity ptrace() Code
04:07 – Architecture Specific Code in Linux
04:45 – Continue Comparing Linux vs. Serenity ptrace() Code
05:08 – Conclusion of Part 1
05:57 – Part 2 – hxp wisdom2 Exploit Analysis
06:44 – Reading ptrace() again
07:26 – Reading execve() code
08:46 – The Critical execve() code
09:30 – Do You Notice The Vulnerability?
10:17 – Race Condition Exploit Strategy
11:48 – Part 3 – Doing Own Research
13:15 – Doing an Experiment
15:44 – Kernel Changes for Experiment
16:00 – Failed Experiment
16:26 – Asking Andreas Kling About Scheduler Code
17:45 – Conclusion – Read More Code
18:38 – Outro
Kernel Root Exploit via a ptrace() and execve() Race Condition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUh507Na9nk
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2021/10/24/hackaday-links-october-24-2021/
It’s kind of hard to believe, but KDE is turning 25 this year! Well, the actual anniversary date (October 14th) has already passed, but the festivities continue through the 25th when KDE founder Matthias Ettrich delivers a fireside chat
https://25years.kde.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://fedoramagazine.org/looking-ahead-to-fedora-linux-35/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fedora Linux 35 is here: Pushing Linux to the limit
The latest of the best-of-breed bleeding-edge Linux distributions, Fedora 35, is now available.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/fedora-linux-35-is-here/
https://getfedora.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linuxin ydin versioon 5.15
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12771&via=n&datum=2021-11-01_16:17:04&mottagare=31202
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/12935-fedora-on-kehittaejien-linux
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://fosspost.org/mx-linux-21-review-best-distribution-2021/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Is Bringing A Feature Upgrade To Linux That Will Make Windows Users Jealous
https://hothardware.com/news/intel-is-bringing-a-feature-upgrade-to-linux-that-will-make-windows-users-jealous
Ever since BIOS updates became possible, the process required rebooting the PC. Even when motherboard manufacturers moved completely to UEFI, this remained the case. Intel is now changing that, thanks to a new part of the ACPI specification called Platform Firmware Runtime Update and Telemetry (PFRUT). This allows for firmware updates to a PC’s BIOS or UEFI without forcing a reboot. Windows users, though, will be disappointed. The feature is Linux-only, at least for now.
Intel’s been working on PFRUT for some time, previously under the moniker “Seamless Update.” The idea is to reduce downtime, especially for servers that should ideally remain available 100 percent of the time. Servers can undergo BIOS/UEFI updates “on the fly,” keeping critical workloads fully operational the whole time.
The upcoming “pfr_update” driver is set to be introduced in Linux kernel 5.17. Sources say it appears to be designed for system firmware updates in cases of critical bugs or security issues, allowing server administrators to patch their hardware without downtime.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://wccftech.com/linux-5-17-improvements-optimizations-intel-amd-apple-m1/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux 5.16 Release – Main Changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures
Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 5.16:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/01/10/linux-5-16-release-main-changes-arm-risc-v-and-mips-architectures/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s New Linux Distro Is a Warning Shot at Red Hat
https://www.reviewgeek.com/92661/microsofts-new-linux-distro-is-a-warning-shot-at-red-hat/
Ever so quietly, Microsoft dropped a new operating system out in the wild. No, not Windows 11. Microsoft created its own Linux Distribution. And while you might be tempted to crack jokes that Microsoft hates Linux, this is a big deal. Especially for anyone who relies on Red Hat or Suse.
Microsoft’s new Linux Distro, dubbed Common Base Linux (CBL)-Mariner, isn’t the type of distro you’d want to install directly on any old machine. It’s primarily meant for cloud infrastructure and edge products. Specifically Microsoft’s Cloud and Edge products.
https://github.com/microsoft/CBL-Mariner
Tomi Engdahl says:
Attempt to shake down Linux users for Netfilter code use resolved
https://www.zdnet.com/article/attempt-to-shake-down-linux-users-for-netfilter-code-use-resolved/
For years, one-time Linux Netfilter developer Patrick McHardy made money by threatening users with legal action for using “his” open-source code. That won’t happen again.
Once upon a time in the 2000s and 2010s, Patrick McHardy was the chair of Linux’s Netfilter core development team. Netfilter is a Linux kernel utility that handles various network functions, such as facilitating Network Address Translation (NAT) and Linux’s IPTables firewall. All was fine. But, then it was discovered that McHardy had made millions of Euros from threatening over 50 companies with legal action for using “his” code. That will never happen again.
This move by McHardy, who had been a leading Linux developer in the 2000s, came as a complete surprise at the time. Now, years later, the issue has finally been resolved.
On January 24, 2022, the Netfilter project announced a legally binding settlement with McHardy. This settlement has been ratified in a German court decision. This settlement governs any legal enforcement activities concerning all programs and program libraries published by the Netfilter/IPTables project and the Linux kernel.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.reviewgeek.com/92661/microsofts-new-linux-distro-is-a-warning-shot-at-red-hat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linuxissa siirrytään uudempaan C-kieleen
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/13235-linuxissa-siirrytaeaen-uudempaan-c-kieleen
Linux-ydintä on iät ja ajat koodattu vuonna 1989 standardoidulla C-kielen versiolla. Nyt Linus Torvalds on päätynyt siihen, että kernelissä siirrytään uudempaan C11-standardiin.
Syynä C-päivitykseen on Torvaldsin huomaama bugi, joka syntyy C89-kielen tavasta käsitellä muuttujia loopeissa. Torvalds päätyi siihen, että siirtyminen uudempaan C-versioon poistaa ongelman.
C11 on sinänsä tuo isoja muutoksia Linux-ytimen koodaamiseen. Siinä on esimerkiksi standardoitu multisäikeiden tuki. Lisäksi kaikki GCC-kääntimet jo tukevat C11-standrdia, joten tältäkään osin ongemia ei tule.
Re: [RFC PATCH 03/13] usb: remove the usage of the list iterator after the loop
https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/CAHk-=wiyCH7xeHcmiFJ-YgXUy2Jaj7pnkdKpcovt8fYbVFW3TA@mail.gmail.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/03/02/where-do-you-want-to-go-today-perhaps-to-a-linux-with-a-familiar-interface/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds ‘starting to get worried’ as Linux kernel 5.17 rc6 lands
More by known regressions not being addressed by maintainers than Vladimir Putin’s ‘mental breakdown’
https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/28/linux_kernel_5_17_rc6/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Arch Linux turned 20 years old today. It was released on 11/March/2002
https://archlinux.org/retro/2002/
Happy birthday to the Arch Linux project!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux 5.17 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/03/21/linux-5-17-release-main-changes-arm-risc-v-and-mips-architectures/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux in 100 Seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrB13utjYV4
Linux is a free and open-source operating system that powers many of the world’s computer systems. Learn the basics of the Linux kernel, how it relates to GNU, and essential Linux commands.
Viewer comments:
One quote that I always remember: “Linux is a file based operating system but Windows is an API based operating system.” That helped me to understand the overall structure of Linux as I deep dive operating systems more and more overtime.
“A computer is like air conditioning – it becomes useless when you open Windows.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux kernel 5.18 arrives: Here’s what’s new
Linux kernel 5.18 includes an Intel driver that could allow the chip maker to enable new silicon features after users pay for a license.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-kernel-5-18-arrives-heres-whats-new/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/05/23/linux-5-18-release-main-changes-arm-risc-v-and-mips-architectures/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-users-accept-switching-linux/#Echobox=1653457119
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds Questions New “HTE” Subsystem Looking To Land In Linux 5.19
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-HTE-Uncertain
Being submitted as a new subsystem for the almost wrapped up Linux 5.19 merge window is the Hardware Timestamping Engine “HTE” code. Linus Torvalds though has yet to pull in this new code and has raised concerns around some elements of it.
The Hardware Timestamping Engine “HTE” is for being able to efficiently associate hardware timestamps with certain events like from GPIOs and IRQs. Linux kernel drivers can register as hardware timestamp providers while other areas of the kernel can request the events they are interested in to be timestamped by said providers.
With the initial state of the HTE code, just hardware timestamping support for NVIDIA Tegra hardware is implemented (Tegra194 Xavier) and there is support within the GPIO area so far for consuming these timestamp events.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multiplatform Linux kernel ‘pretty much done’ says Linus Torvalds
Debuts version 5.19rc1, which includes HPE’s next-gen server ASIC and much more
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/06/linux_5_19_rc1/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds: Linux saavuttamassa historiallisen hetken
7.6.202209:28|päivitetty7.6.202209:28
Linux-kernelin versio 5.19 lähenee julkaisuaan.
https://www.mikrobitti.fi/uutiset/linus-torvalds-linux-saavuttamassa-historiallisen-hetken/8b6c7d7f-08b2-4309-87cd-1bf65c1a6589
Tomi Engdahl says:
I love the Linux desktop, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see its problems all too well
Fragmentation has put paid to the dream of this OS ever being bigger than Windows
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/08/linux_desktop_blues/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://venturebeat.com/2022/06/21/linus-torvalds-after-30-years-linux-is-not-a-dead-project/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linus Torvalds’ Latest Commentary Against -O3′ing The Linux Kernel
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linus-Against-O3-Kernel
This shouldn’t be too surprising considering some of Linus Torvalds past commentary about compiler optimizations and bad experiences long ago with GCC, but Linus Torvalds is not interested in seeing a tunable Kconfig option for using the -O3 compiler optimization level for building the Linux kernel without substantial justification.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/23/linus_torvalds_rust_linux_kernel/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux To Drop “nordrand” Option – Users Should Instead Switch To “random.trust_cpu”
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Drop-No-RdRand
Tomi Engdahl says:
AlmaLinux 9, openSUSE Leap 15.4, Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 11.3 & Clear Linux Benchmarks
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=mid22-linux-server&num=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
My business card runs Linux, yours can too
https://dmitry.gr/?r=05.Projects&proj=33.+LinuxCard
A long long time ago (in 2012) I ran Linux on an 8-bit AVR. It was kind of a cool record at the time. I do not think anyone has beaten it – nobody’s managed to run Linux on a lower-end device than that 8-bit AVR. The main problem was that is was too slow to be practical. The effective speed was 10KHz, the boot time was 6 hours. Cool, but I doubt that any one of those people who built one of those devices based on my design ever waited for the device to boot more than once. It was time to improve it!
So what could I improve? A number of things. First, I wanted the new design to be speedy enough to boot in a few minutes and reply to commands in seconds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PlayOnLinux – Run Windows Software and Games in Linux
https://www.tecmint.com/playonlinux-install-windows-software-in-linux/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Initial release September 17, 1991
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux 6.0 julkaistaan Macbookilla
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13813&via=n&datum=2022-08-02_15:52:32&mottagare=30929
Kesä tai talvi, taantuma tai ei, mutta Linuxin ytimen kehitys sujuu entiseen tapaan. Siitä pitää tietysti huolen Linus Torvalds. Uusin versio on 5.19 ja sen julkaisun yhteydessä Torvalds kertoi nyt työskentelevänsä Applen MacBook Airilla, jonka Arm-pohjaisella prosessorilla ajetaan Asahin Linuxia.
Ytimen 5.19 julkaistiin kuitenkin ensimmäistä kertaa Arm-pohjaisella Applen koneella. Asahi puolestaan on Linux-jakelu, joka on edelleen varsin raakile. Projektin tehtävä on kuitenkin nimenomaan portata Linux Applen koneille ja nyt se näyttää olevan käyttökelpoinen myös Applen uusissa Arm-pohjaisissa läppäreissä.
Entäpä se Linux 6.0? Torvaldsin mukaan seuraavan version numero lienee 6.0, koska hän alkaa taas hermostua suurista versionumeroista.
Jos Asahi-Linux kiinnostaa, ohjeet asentamiseen löytyvät esimerkiksi täältä. Omalla vastuulla, toki.
How to install Asahi Linux on your M1 Mac! Dual Boot Native Linux and macOS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcmmwugTF3U
Tomi Engdahl says:
How a botched kernel patch broke Ubuntu and why it may happen again https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/08/kernel_patch_borked_ubuntu_systems/
If you spent the early days of June fighting kernel panics in Ubuntu 20.04, you were not alone and we now know why. A problem with a Ubuntu-specific Linux kernel patch early last month rendered many systems, running Docker on that flavor of the operating system unusable, and it probably won’t be the last time. The whole debacle can be traced back to a bad distro-specific kernel update for Ubuntu
20.04 Canonical’s long-term support (LTS) release that started rolling out on or about June 8. Within hours of the patch hitting systems, bug reports began filing in.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top Linux Distributions for Students in 2022
https://www.tecmint.com/linux-distros-students/
Tomi Engdahl says:
We tested all the Ubuntu remixes for resource usage so you don’t have to
Which flavors are the lightest and the heaviest disk and memory-wise?
https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/18/ubuntu_remixes/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux 6.1 Default Kernel Config To Warn At Boot Of W+X Mappings
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.1-Warn-WX-Defconfig
A change queued up as part of the “x86/mm” TIP changes expected to land for Linux 6.1 will now have the default kernel configuration warn at kernel boot time around any W+X mappings that pose a security risk.
Going back to 2015 has been the “CONFIG_DEBUG_WX” kernel option to warn of mappings at kernel boot time that are set to writable and executable, since they pose a security risk. The intention of this “debug” option is to warn of W+X mappings left by the kernel after applying NX. Any mappings will be dumped to the kernel log for uncovering potential kernel problems.