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Late last month Linux creator Linus Torvalds had been considering publishing an eighth release candidate of the Linux 3.6 kernel, but on Sunday Torvalds decided to skip that step and launch the final version instead.
“A week passed, and things have been calm, and I honestly cannot see a major reason to do another rc,” Torvalds explained in the official announcement. “So here it is, 3.6 final. Sure, I’d have been happier with even fewer changes, but that just never happens. And holding off the release until people get too bored to send me the small stuff just makes the next merge window more painful.”
Changes included in Linux 3.6 are “too many to list,” Torvalds added. “There haven’t been any huge new architectures or filesystems, it’s all ‘solid progress.’ That may not sound all that exciting, but the devil is in the details, and there’s a lot of small fixes all over.”
Among the most visible features in this new release is a “hybrid sleep” capability much like what has long been offered by Microsoft Windows. Plenty of other goodies also promise to improve life for Linux users, however. Here’s a quick look at some of the highlights.
1. Changes to Btrfs
While Linux 3.5 saw some improvements to Ext4, this latest kernel version 3.6 brings a number of tweaks to the new copy on write (CoW) Btrfs filesystem instead. Included among the improvements are the addition of subvolume quotas and quota groups and cross-subvolume file clones. And a “send/receive” features targeting backups by which Btrfs can compute the differences between two snapshots and then store the differences in a file that can later be replayed for reconstructive purposes.
Ext4, incidentally, did get a boost in Linux 3.6 as well, with better quota support.
2. ‘Suspend to Both,’ or ‘Hybrid Sleep’
“It is often useful to suspend to memory after a hibernation image has been written to disk,” explains the commit description on kernel.org. “If the battery runs out or power is otherwise lost, the computer will resume from the hibernated image. If not, it will resume from memory and the hibernation image will be discarded.”
This feature is essentially what’s known as “hybrid sleep” in the world of Microsoft Windows, for example, and with kernel 3.6 it’s now available in Linux as well, offering a particular boon to users of portable devices.
3. ‘TCP Fast Open’
Also new in Linux 3.6 is client-side support for TCP Fast Open, a new mechanism developed by Google that enables data exchange during TCP’s initial handshake, thereby decreasing application network latency by one full round-trip time and reducing the delay experienced by short TCP transfers. In fact, TCP Fast Open can lead to speed improvements of between 4 percent and 41 percent in page load times on popular websites, according to the Linux 3.6 release notes. Server support for this feature is still to come.
4. Another Blow Against ‘Bufferbloat’
With Linux 3.5 we saw the addition of a new bufferbloat-fighting tool called Codel, which is a queue management algorithm, and Linux 3.6 brings another one. Also designed to combat bufferbloat, or the high latency and reduced throughput that can result from excessive buffering across an entire network path, TCP Small Queues essentially puts a cap on the amount of data that can be queued for transmission by any given socket, according to an LWN report.
5. Support for SMB2
Last but not least, SMB2 is the successor to the widely used Server Message Block (SMB) network file-sharing protocol, also known as Common Internet File System (CIFS), and is the native file-sharing mechanism for Windows since it debuted with Vista in 2006. Linux 3.6 adds support for SMB2, which “will eventually allow users better performance, security and features,” the release notes explain.
Of course, any list of just five kernel features will scarcely begin to scratch the surface of what’s included. Details about countless new drivers and other enhancements in Linux 3.6 can be found on KernelNewbies.org.
Who wouldn’t want to be a Linux kernel developer? Kernel developers work at the heart of the Linux operating system and contribute and work on code that runs the world’s technology infrastructure.
The work is so rewarding it attracts contributions from thousands of developers each year who make up the thriving community.
But as Linus Torvalds himself reminded us during the Linux Kernel Panel discussion at LinuxCon this summer, being a kernel developer is not the only way to be an important part of the Linux and open source communities. In fact, developers can often have a large impact on a project with 10 or 15 developers.
“There are tons of really worthy open source projects that need help,” Torvalds said to a roomful of Linux professionals.
Each of the kernel developers on the panel gave a different pitch for following in his or her footsteps. But they also recognize there are many open source projects that need help and ultimately help Linux, too.
Sarah Sharp became a kernel developer because she likes tinkering at the intersection of software and hardware and says the community is fun to work with. Greg Kroah-Hartman said kernel developers get to see the world attending Linux conferences. And Ted T’so advised: “You should become a kernel developer if it’s fun. It’s been a blast for me.”
But with all the worthy projects out there, how do you pick one? We followed up with Greg KH after the panel for some recommendations. Here is his list of five open source projects you could work on:
– X.org develops the X window system software, a framework for building GUI environments, and is one of the oldest open source software projects out there. A great way for anyone to get started is by applying for the project’s mentorship program, Endless Vacation of Code.
– LibreOffice is an open source alternative to Microsoft Windows software. “They have a handy “tasks for newcomers list,” says Greg KH.
– GNOME is a popular Linux desktop environment. The project is looking for contributors with many different skill types, not just developers.
– KDE develops workspace applications and provides an application development platform. “They can always use the help, especially for the core bits,” says Greg KH.
– “Pick-your-favorite-application, they can all use the help,” Greg KH said, “especially from users who know how the programs work.”
What other projects do you think are great for newcomers, or those looking for a new challenge, to get involved in? Tell us in the comments, below. Thanks!
