Release Linux kernel 4.17: what you need to know about it
The third of June, Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux kernel 4.17, which was supposed to be version 5.0, but did not . Let's tell why it happened, and what you need to know about version 4.17.
/ photo Farhan Perdana (Blek) CC BY
Despite the fact that Linus Torvalds suggested that a release with the name Linux kernel 5.0 will appear in the summer of 2018, this did not happen. In his April post on LKML.org, Torvalds stated that he “does not want to be too predictable.” Therefore, although the number of git-objects in the repository has already exceeded 6 million, Linus did not assign the name Linux kernel 5.0 to the new release.
Torvalds believes that the release numbers do not mean anything and do not obey any numerological rules (despite the fact that releases of versions 3.0 and 4.0 coincided with an increase in the number of git-objects to 2 and 4 million, respectively). He writesthat the situation with the numbering of releases will be the same as in the transition to 4.0: “while there are enough fingers to calculate the auxiliary version numbers (that is, earlier release 4.20), you should not wait for the transition to version 5”.
This release can not be called "passing", because the developers have added a number of useful features and cut off all unnecessary. Briefly about what has been done:
Optimized power consumption . This is the first and quite noticeable update. The new implementation of the idle cycle reduces its power consumption "by 10% or more." The community appreciated this improvement, and one of the users even conducted a series of tests (for example, on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the Tyan server platform) and confirmed the actual reduction in power consumption not only in a state of inactivity, but also under normal and peak loads.
Optimized driver performance . AMDGPU DC (display code) is now activated by default and is in “ vanilla"Core. This means that there is no need to install DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support), and sound support for HDMI and DP (DisplayPort) will now be available "out of the box". The AMDKFD driver (AMD Kernel Fusion Driver) was also added to the base kernel version. This innovation will be useful to those who use AMD graphics processors for high-performance computing.
Reduced amount of code . It is almost 500 thousand lines of code. For example, they removed everything related to outdated architectures: Blackfin , M32R , MN103, and several others. As a result, in 4.17 the number of rows deleted exceeded the number of rows added. Community has treatedrather, this is positive, although some HN residents note that deleting the code does not always benefit any project. In 4.17 there are 24 supported architectures, including one new - Andes Technology NDS32. Iron Andes Technology is mainly used for IoT-devices, various low-power gadgets and medical devices.
Added support for HDCP ( High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection ). This is a technology to protect against illegal copying over DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, GVIF and UDI. It is used, for example in HD DVD and Blu-ray players, it uses an authentication protocol and data encryption.
/ photo by Luis Alejandro Bernal CC BY-SA
The developers also added support for the A4Tech mouse with two scroll wheels (the issue was discussed back in 2002 ) and the Phoenix RC controller , which pleased many users. Note that in this version there are also improvements for the Macintosh PowerBook 100 series from the 90s. A list of all changes for Linux kernel 4.17 can be found here .
Linus Torvalds did not say anything specific about the upcoming releases. It is assumed that version 5.0 will be released after 4.20, and in release 4.18 there will be updates of sound drivers and DRM functionality , as well as a solution to problem Y2038 (failures due to the presentation of time by the POSIX standard).
Other materials in our corporate blog:
/ photo Farhan Perdana (Blek) CC BY
Why not 5.0
Despite the fact that Linus Torvalds suggested that a release with the name Linux kernel 5.0 will appear in the summer of 2018, this did not happen. In his April post on LKML.org, Torvalds stated that he “does not want to be too predictable.” Therefore, although the number of git-objects in the repository has already exceeded 6 million, Linus did not assign the name Linux kernel 5.0 to the new release.
Torvalds believes that the release numbers do not mean anything and do not obey any numerological rules (despite the fact that releases of versions 3.0 and 4.0 coincided with an increase in the number of git-objects to 2 and 4 million, respectively). He writesthat the situation with the numbering of releases will be the same as in the transition to 4.0: “while there are enough fingers to calculate the auxiliary version numbers (that is, earlier release 4.20), you should not wait for the transition to version 5”.
What's New in 4.17
This release can not be called "passing", because the developers have added a number of useful features and cut off all unnecessary. Briefly about what has been done:
Optimized power consumption . This is the first and quite noticeable update. The new implementation of the idle cycle reduces its power consumption "by 10% or more." The community appreciated this improvement, and one of the users even conducted a series of tests (for example, on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and the Tyan server platform) and confirmed the actual reduction in power consumption not only in a state of inactivity, but also under normal and peak loads.
Optimized driver performance . AMDGPU DC (display code) is now activated by default and is in “ vanilla"Core. This means that there is no need to install DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support), and sound support for HDMI and DP (DisplayPort) will now be available "out of the box". The AMDKFD driver (AMD Kernel Fusion Driver) was also added to the base kernel version. This innovation will be useful to those who use AMD graphics processors for high-performance computing.
Reduced amount of code . It is almost 500 thousand lines of code. For example, they removed everything related to outdated architectures: Blackfin , M32R , MN103, and several others. As a result, in 4.17 the number of rows deleted exceeded the number of rows added. Community has treatedrather, this is positive, although some HN residents note that deleting the code does not always benefit any project. In 4.17 there are 24 supported architectures, including one new - Andes Technology NDS32. Iron Andes Technology is mainly used for IoT-devices, various low-power gadgets and medical devices.
Added support for HDCP ( High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection ). This is a technology to protect against illegal copying over DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI, GVIF and UDI. It is used, for example in HD DVD and Blu-ray players, it uses an authentication protocol and data encryption.
/ photo by Luis Alejandro Bernal CC BY-SA
The developers also added support for the A4Tech mouse with two scroll wheels (the issue was discussed back in 2002 ) and the Phoenix RC controller , which pleased many users. Note that in this version there are also improvements for the Macintosh PowerBook 100 series from the 90s. A list of all changes for Linux kernel 4.17 can be found here .
What's next
Linus Torvalds did not say anything specific about the upcoming releases. It is assumed that version 5.0 will be released after 4.20, and in release 4.18 there will be updates of sound drivers and DRM functionality , as well as a solution to problem Y2038 (failures due to the presentation of time by the POSIX standard).
Other materials in our corporate blog: