Zen Kernel News http://www.zen-kernel.org daily 1 2009-10-18T01:07:24Z Updates to Zen Release Cycle http://www.zen-kernel.org/updates-to-zen-release-cycle As if we really had one.

Greetings everyone!  With the month of leap years just around the corner, Zen has also taken its own leap to the future by taking a stab at modern release philosophies;  the art of rolling code.

I read an article on slashdot.org about the last version of HTML 5.  Of course, that's just a play on words and we're always going to be progressing forward with new HTML standards.  But the way that HTML will be developed requires two parts to the puzzle.  The standards development from WHATWG will continue and they'll organically improve HTML as demand needs them to and the W3C will essentially "tag" certain versions of their standards document with a number.  Basically, WHATWG can do what they do best and improve HTML while the W3C determines when the HTML standard is good and significantly different enough to release that as the next version of HTML for web browsers and web developers to standardize against.

If you take the skeleton of this whole methodology and place it on top of Zen's current reality, there isn't much different.  We still have packagers who take snapshots of Zen that they use and build a kernel for their users.  The users that build kernels purely for self interest grab the newest code and avoid the tags.  Then there's the small minority who do use the Zen tag, probably because they don't know any better (sorry guys).

I hope that making these changes will also close an important feedback loop that I feel is missing.  When everyone is encouraged to run the newest version, there are less opportunities for bugs to creep in from features and patches that don't exactly behave the way the author of the new code intended them to.  This also gives kernel developers opportunities to test their patches that improve the behavior of the Linux kernel (things I'm sure all Zen users are all happy about) on a wider audience. 

If you need more evidence of this new process working in the longterm, watch a lecture from Theo de Raadt and his success story on his release process that is currently used in OpenBSD: youtube.com.  The only difference with Zen is the lack of a version every 6 months since we strictly depend on the next version of the Linux kernel.

 

Remember, if you do not want to clone the Zen repository, you can always download the daily snapshots that patch directly against Linus's vanilla kernel here: downloads.zen-kernel.org.

]]> No publisher Steven Barrett 2011-01-31T21:15:00Z News Item 2.6.36-zen1 "Aufs Revenge" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.36-zen1-aufs-revenge This is the first news article following the tagging and new features for 2.6.36.  I won't go into the details but below are some highlights about special code commits to zen-stable.

 

  1. "IO-Less dirty throttling v2" patches from Wu Fengguang
  2. "sched: Improve desktop interactivity: Implement automated per session task groups" patch from Mike Galbraith
  3. AUFS 2.1 - 2.6.36 support
  4. Many CFS backports from 2.6.37 to compliment Mike Galbraith's autogrouping patches
  5. Lots of miscellaneous writeback and mm/vmscan patches from 2.6.37 and a special fix from Minchan Kim to fix disk thrashing when under loads comparable to rsync backups.
  6. Late reiser4 support (due to late patch release on behalf of namesys)

 

The newest source can be downloaded downloads.zen-kernel.org: 2.6.36-zen1.patch.lzma

Everything else can be examined through our extensive and often confusing git log!

 

EDIT: Replaced download link with kernel patch.

]]> No publisher Steven Barrett 2010-11-29T02:12:20Z Release 2.6.35-zen2 "Get the fuck out" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.35-zen2-get-the-fuck-out Kind of a skip due to technical issues, but here's the latest 2.6.35 zen release. Also tagged in git ;)
 
v2.6.35-zen2 "Get the fuck out"
- 2.6.35.4
- Added cfs low latency features
- Replaced upstream compcache with released one (testing sake)
- Reverted rt2x00 branch
- Updated tuxonice, aufs, etc.
 
v2.6.35-zen1
- Initial release based on 2.6.35.2 release
- 2.6.35-ck1/bfs 323 w/ zen-tune
- Vhba + Scholastic blue (not related, but new)
- rt2x00 git tree merged
- BFQ i/o scheduler
- The usuals
 
 
Please share your results ;)
download: http://downloads.zen-kernel.org/2.6.35/2.6.35-zen2.patch.lzma
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-09-01T21:05:05Z Release 2.6.34-zen1 "Back in the Saddle" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.34-zen1-back-in-the-saddle * zen-tune on top of 2.6.34-ck1
* Some tweaks to zen-tune over previous releases
* As usual, Latest btrfs (btrfs-unstable.git), aufs, tuxonice, reiser4, etc
* misc-2.6.34 branch containing tweaks and fixes for writeback, cpuidle, cfs, and some others.
* SLQB, classic rcu ported
 
Please share your results ;)
download: http://downloads.zen-kernel.org/2.6.34/2.6.34-zen1.patch.lzma
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-06-23T18:02:37Z Release 2.6.33-zen3 "The Unsane Uterus" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.33-zen3-the-unsane-uterus - 2.6.33.5

- bfs v0.318

- updated tuxonice

- writeback and ext4 fixes

 
Download it here (2.6.33-zen3.patch.lzma)
]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-06-17T15:52:36Z Release 2.6.33-zen2 "Bist du noch fertig?" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.33-zen2-bist-du-noch-fertig Another zen-stable release.


- 2.6.33.3
- BFS v0.316
- updated btrfs
- updated tuxonice
- added some io performance tweaks from .34 and bugzilla

Patch against 2.6.33 can be downloaded here.

]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-04-27T23:49:07Z Release Let's talk about Zen-Stable baby http://www.zen-kernel.org/lets-talk-about-zen-stable-baby Let's talk about you and me! There is some confusion about zen-stable, and we haven't had any regular articles lately - so I figured I'd just write one really quick :D
Nothing major, a few people don't understand some of the things it does and what not, so i'll clear it up in true or false format!
 
Idea: Zen-Stable release patches apply over the latest upstream stable release!
FALSE! The release patches include the latest upstream stable releases, so they do not apply on top of them. The patches always apply on top of the base kernel version for that release.
For example, 2.6.33-zen2 INCLUDES 2.6.33.1, but the patch is supposed to be applied on top of 2.6.33 :D
 
Idea: Zen-Stable doesn't keep things i want up to date enough, like BTRFS, aufs, tuxonice, squashfs, BFS
FALSE! Zen stable git trees are frequently updated across the board. Presently the 2.6.31-2.6.33 branches receive all updates, while 2.6.30 receives some updates (basically everything except btrfs and bfs). They also remain updated to the latest upstream stable revisions for that release. So if zen-stable is too outdated for you, you're too new!
 
Idea: There is basically no difference between zen.git and zen-stable.git!
FALSE! Zen-stable never sees pre-release kernels (-rc kernels), nor does it merge experimental git trees like wireless-testing, drm-next (or any of the other drm-testing branches), sound-2.6, etc. If you desire these things, zen.git is the place for you!
 
Idea: I don't need to re-clone the tree to switch between zen-stable and zen.git
TRUE! Look in the Documentation->Tutorials section if you don't know how!
 
Idea: Zen operates on crude oil and raw meat!
FALSE! The zen kernel operates purely on vegetable oil, self-generated electricity, and a little bit of distilled water.
 
 
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-03-17T19:25:21Z News Item 2.6.33-zen1 "Dust Remover" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.33-zen1-dust-remover First 2.6.33 release from zen-stable.git!
- Initial 2.6.33 base
- Merged branches: zen-tune (merges ck), zen-tag, zen-notes, zen-logo, usb-mouse-polling, ureadahead,
 tuxonice-2.6.33, tp_smapi, tmpfs-root, thinkpad-sl, squashfs, slqb, sio-iosched, reiser4, psx2usb,
 nr-tty, nconfig, march-native, mactel, lirc, linux-phc, l7filter, ipmi-sensors, githelp, fbcondecor,
 fatelf, expose-processor-select, eee900freq, dazukofs, daconfig, compcache, classic-rcu, cko, aufs,
 amd-k10, adbsyn, acpi-fixes, acpi-dsdt
- Special notes:
 * dm-raid45 not merged, needs a fix
 * bfq not merged, awaiting new version before 2.6.33 port
 * sreadahead not merged in favor of ureadahead and sreadahead is dead
 * lirc it87 disabled, if this is a problem for you file a bug report
 * Classic RCU was added
 
Key Features
1. a branch entitled "zen-tune" was added - this branch implements four tunable profiles, defaulting to desktop - only adjusts 4 things so far
  • Server Settings: dirty_ratio: 80, dirty_background_ratio: 1 --- BFS rr_interval and iso_cpu are left at default
  • Default Settings (nothing changed): dirty_ratio: 20, dirty_background_ratio: 10, *BFS ONLY* sched_iso_cpu: 70, rr_interval: 6
  • Desktop Settings (selected by default): dirt_ratio: 50, dirty_background_ratio: 20, *BFS ONLY* sched_iso_cpu: 25, rr_interval: 3
  • Custom Settings: Enables another menu which allows for each to be set manually - also has descriptions for each variable from the documentation
2. The "classic-rcu" branch from zen.git was pulled into a new branch, but:
  • The preempt rcu implementation is dropped totally
  • The classic rcu implementation is changed to match the implementations of 2.6.33 tree rcu and tiny rcu, instead of 2.6.31 classic rcu
  • Several compile errors have been fixed, probably due to one or both points mentioned above
  • Classic RCU will probably replace tree_rcu in the default zen spot after this release (if no bug reports, will become default in zen2)
Download it here (2.6.33-zen1.patch.lzma)
 
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-03-05T00:40:22Z Release 2.6.32-zen7 "Gongoozled" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.32-zen7-gongoozled Another 2.6.32 release from zen-stable!
- v2.6.32.9
- Updated tuxonice
- Updated aufs
- Updated btrfs
- Added zen-tune profiles
- Fixed gentoo logo white border
 
Download it here (2.6.32-zen7.patch.lzma)
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-03-05T00:23:59Z Release 2.6.33-rc7-zen1 "noname" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.33-rc7-zen1-noname Another zen.git release, based on -rc7


* latest linus tree
* updated tuxonice
* updated aufs
* reiser4 should work now (yay!)

 

download it here (2.6.33-rc7-zen1.patch.lzma)

 

]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-02-12T21:29:19Z Release 2.6.32-zen6 "Forever and never" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.32-zen6-forever-and-never - v2.6.32.7
- Updated tuxonice
- Updated btrfs
- Updated compcache (0.6.2)
- Added Simple I/O Scheduler 0.2
- Added ureadahead (0.100.0)
- Removed sreadahead
- Made reiser4 depend on BROKEN
 
Download it here (2.6.32-zen6.patch.lzma)
 
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-01-31T01:17:47Z Release 2.6.31-zen12 "Y-O-Y" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.31-zen12-y-o-y - Updated tuxonice
- Updated btrfs
- Updated compcache (0.6.2)
- Added ureadahead (0.100.0)
- Added Simple I/O Scheduler v0.2
 
Download it here (2.6.31-zen12.patch.lzma)
 
]]> No publisher Brandon Berhent 2010-01-31T01:14:45Z Release 2.6.33-rc5-zen1 "Jizzed in my pants" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.33-rc5-zen1-jizzed-in-my-pants * updated compcache to 0.6.1 (in staging now)
* aufs updated
* got rid of alsa from -next as it was causing problems
* got rid of bfq as it's unmaintained and broken now,
    cfq should work just as well now
* tuxonice updated
* latest drm

Download it here (2.6.33-rc5-zen1.patch.lzma)

 

Download hotfix1 here (2.6.33-rc5-zen1-hotfix1.patch)

 

]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-01-24T21:15:00Z Release 2.6.32-zen5 "Omfg 2010?" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.32-zen5-omfg-2010 New zen-stable.git release. Changelog: - v2.6.32.4 - Updated aufs - Updated tuxonice - Reverted loop-aes - Added a btrfs fix (69924) Download it here (2.6.32-zen5.patch.lzma) ]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-01-19T00:50:28Z Release 2.6.31-zen11 "Shawty" http://www.zen-kernel.org/2.6.31-zen11-shawty Another 2.6.31 kernel zen release.

Changelog:


   1 - 2.6.31.12

   2 - Updated aufs

   3 - Updatd tuxonice

   4 - Updated BFS (v313)

   5 - Swap prefetch is broken, we've known that

 

Download it here (2.6.31-zen11.patch.lzma)

]]> No publisher dominic duklas 2010-01-19T00:47:24Z Release