GNU/Linux and BSD Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 06, 2025

• Kernel Space

  • Stephen Kell ☛ Rambles around computer science

    I also mentioned that handling clone(), Linux's system call for creating a new thread, is challenging in this context. Let's imagine we want our handler firstly to print out a message, then to do the original clone(), and then return to the original caller (twice, naturally!). Since the clone() in the signal handler context will completely replace the stack, in the child thread the system call context, i.e. the signal frame saved on the original stack, is gone! How do we make that cloned thread return to the caller, i.e. to the place where the program wants the thread actually to begin its execution?

    I mentioned I would save the detail for another post. This is that post.

• Graphics Stack

  • The New Stack ☛ GPUs Never Signed Up for This AI Security Job

    While CPUs have evolved to include protections like privilege separation, virtual memory and runtime observability, GPUs remain anchored in a design philosophy built for trusted, single-user environments. This mismatch has created dangerous blind spots in modern infrastructure. In June, Wiz disclosed another GPU isolation flaw that further underscored how GPUs lack basic multitenancy safeguards. These processors were never built to enforce strict boundaries between workloads, nor to support the telemetry and auditability that modern AI security requires.

    Yet GPUs are now deployed in shared, high-stakes environments as if they were hardened infrastructure. That false confidence is precisely what makes this emerging threat so urgent.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • BSD

    • Dan Langille ☛ Updating a FreeBSD 14.2 host to FreeBSD 14.3 via freebsd-update

      I’m ready to update r730-01 (I see that link is from 2024 – I’ll refresh it after this update) from FreeBSD 14.2 to FreeBSD 14.3.

  • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

    • Ubuntu ☛ Bringing Canonical Kubernetes to Sylva: a new chapter for European telco clouds

      In Europe, this challenge is being addressed head-on by the Sylva project, an open source initiative driven by the continent’s largest telecom operators and network equipment vendors, including Nokia and Ericsson. Canonical joined the Sylva project in 2023. Sylva’s mission is to create a telco-friendly, cloud-native infrastructure stack that not only meets the technical requirements of next-generation telecom workloads, but also aligns with Europe’s priorities for technology sovereignty, security, and regulatory compliance.