Linux and GNU/Linux Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 23, 2025

• Kernel Space

  • LWN ☛ The end of the 6.18 merge window

    The 6.18 merge window has come to an end, bringing with it a total of 11,974 non-merge commits, 3,499 of which came in after LWN's first-half summary. The total is a little higher than the 6.17 merge window, which saw 11,404 non-merge commits. There are once again a good number of changes and new features included in this release.

  • LWN ☛ A new API for interrupt-aware spinlocks

    Boqun Feng spoke at Kangrejos 2025 about adding a frequently needed API for Rust drivers that need to handle interrupts: interrupt-aware spinlocks. Most drivers will need to communicate information from interrupt handlers to main driver code, and this exchange is frequently synchronized with the use of spinlocks. While his first attempts ran into problems, Feng's ultimate solution could help prevent bugs in C code as well, by tracking the number of nested scopes that have disabled interrupts. The patch set, which contains work from Feng and Lyude Paul, is still under review.

    Code that acquires a spinlock needs to disable preemption: otherwise, if it were preempted, everything else contending for the lock would just pointlessly burn CPU time. The same thing (almost) applies to using spinlocks in interrupts, Feng said. If kernel code acquires a spinlock in process context, and then an interrupt arrives, the handler for which tries to acquire the same lock, the system will deadlock. The simple rule in the kernel is that if a lock is ever used in both interrupt handler and process context, the lock must be "irq-safe" (meaning that the acquirer disables interrupts when appropriate). The kernel's lockdep tool will check that this rule is followed.

• Instructionals/Technical

  • Linux Made Simple ☛ 2025-10-15 [Older] How to install Jagex Launcher on Kubuntu 24.04

  • Linux Made Simple ☛ 2025-10-20 [Older] How to install Lightworks on Kubuntu 24.04.

  • HowTo Geek ☛ Memorizing These 7 Linux Command-Line Options Will Turn You Into a Pro

    Linux commands often have long lists of options they support, many of which are single-letter mnemonics. These can be tricky to learn and remember, but their redeeming feature is their reusability: common options are shared by different commands.

    The following options are the most common and are widely available across several commands. Learn these, and you’ll gain a solid understanding of how to use many different programs, with consistent results.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Fedora Family / IBM

    • LWN ☛ Last-minute /boot boost for Fedora 43

      Sudden increases in the size of Fedora's initramfs files have prompted the project to fast-track a proposal to increase the default size of the /boot partition for new installs of Fedora 43 and later. The project has also walked back a few changes that have contributed to larger initramfs files, but the ever-increasing size of firmware means that the need for more room is unavoidable. The Fedora Engineering Steering Council (FESCo) has approved a last-minute change just before the final freeze for Fedora 43 to increase the default size of the /boot partition from 1GB to 2GB; this will leave plenty of space for kernels and initramfs images if a user is installing from scratch, but it is of no help for users upgrading from Fedora 42.