3.17 merge window, part 2
As of this writing, Linus has pulled 9,894 non-merge changesets into the
kernel repository for the 3.17 development cycle; that is 3,750 since last week's merge window summary was written.
The pace has fallen off in recent days; Linus is evidently traveling and
will eventually arrive at the 2014 Kernel Summit, which begins on
August 18.
Some of the more interesting user-visible changes merged since last week include:
- The memfd and file sealing patches
have been merged. A "memfd" is a region of memory identified by a
file descriptor that may be passed between processes. File sealing
allows a process to freeze the contents of a memfd, disallowing any
further changes. Together, these features are meant to be a key part
of the upcoming kdbus subsystem.
- The new kexec_file_load()
system call is available. It allows the kernel to perform signature
checking on a new kernel before booting into it. That, in turn,
should allow nervous distributors to enable the kexec functionality on
systems running in a UEFI secure boot environment.
- Initial multiqueue support has been
added to the SCSI subsystem. Multiqueue operation should provide
increased performance and scalability. This code is experimental in
this release and off by default; the use_blk_mq module
parameter must be provided to turn it on.
- KVM virtualization now works on big-endian ARM systems.
- DRM "render
nodes," which provide access to the rendering hardware in graphics
processors independently of the display, are now enabled by default.
- Support for the old POWER3 and rs64 architectures has been removed
from the kernel. These architectures have evidently been broken for a
number of
releases and nobody noticed. Support for Samsung S5P6440, S5P6450,
and S5PC100 systems has also been removed.
- New hardware support includes:
- Processors and systems:
Mediatek MT6589 systems-on-chip (SoCs),
Broadcom BCM7XXX-based boards, and
Hisilicon HiX5HD2 SoCs.
- Audio:
Cirrus Logic CS4265 codecs,
Realtek ALC286 and ALC5670 codecs,
Freescale asynchronous sample rate converters,
Intel Broadwell Wildcatpoint audio DSPs,
Hardkernel Odroid-X2 and Odroid-U3 audio controllers,
SiRF SoC USP interfaces, and
Texas Instruments TAS2552 mono audio amplifiers.
- Graphics:
STMicroelectronics SoC stiH41x chipsets and
Cirrus Logic CLPS711X framebuffers.
- Input:
Microchip CAP1106 six-channel capacitive touch sensors and
Wacom protocol 4 serial tablets.
- Miscellaneous: HP iPAQ Atmel Micro ASIC battery controllers, Intel Crystal Cove power management ICs, Maxim MAX77802 power management ICs, Freescale i.MX1 pin controllers, Qualcomm 8960 pin controllers, MSI GT68xR LED controllers, NVIDIA Tegra XUSB pad controllers, NXP PCF85063 real-time clocks, and Xilinx Zynq GPIO controllers.
- Processors and systems:
Mediatek MT6589 systems-on-chip (SoCs),
Broadcom BCM7XXX-based boards, and
Hisilicon HiX5HD2 SoCs.
Changes visible to kernel developers include:
- The ALSA sound driver core is now able to work with hardware setups where multiple codecs are attached to a single digital audio interface.
By normal standards, the 3.17 merge window would be expected to close on
August 17. Linus has suggested that, in compensation for the time
when he is traveling, the window may stay open for a bit longer, allowing
him to complete the merging process during the slower moments at the Kernel
Summit. Regardless of how that turns out, next week's Kernel Page will
include a summary of the final patches merged for this development cycle.
| Index entries for this article | |
|---|---|
| Kernel | Releases/3.17 |