FreeBSD 13.0 released
The FreeBSD 13 release is out. It includes a lot of
updated software, the removal of a number of GNU tools (including the
toolchain), and more, but not WireGuard. See the release notes for the
details.
[$] Comparing SystemTap and bpftrace
There are times when developers and system administrators
need to diagnose problems in running code. The program to be examined can be a
user-space process, the kernel, or both. Two of the major tools available on
Linux to perform this sort of analysis are SystemTap and bpftrace. SystemTap has
been available since 2005, while bpftrace is a more recent contender that, to
some, may appear to have made SystemTap obsolete. However, SystemTap is still
the preferred tool for some real-world use cases.
Security updates for Tuesday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (libpano13),
Fedora (mosquitto and perl-Net-CIDR-Lite), Mageia (curl, mongodb, pdfbox,
python-jinja2, rygel, spamassassin, tor, velocity, webkit2, and wireshark),
openSUSE (umoci), Oracle (389-ds:1.4, kernel, and virt:ol and virt-devel:rhel),
Red Hat (kernel and kpatch-patch), Slackware (dnsmasq and irssi), and SUSE
(cifs-utils, rubygem-actionpack-4_2, and spamassassin).
[$] NUMA-aware qspinlocks
While some parts of the core kernel reached a relatively
stable "done" state years ago, others never really seem to be finished. One of
the latter variety is undoubtedly the kernel's implementation of spinlocks,
which arbitrate access to data at the lowest levels of the kernel. Lock
performance can have a significant effect on the performance of the system as a
whole, so optimization work can pay back big dividends. Lest one think that
this work is finally done, the NUMA-aware qspinlock patch set shows how some
more performance can be squeezed out of the kernel's spinlock
implementation.
The FSF on Stallman's reinstatement
The Free Software Foundation has finally issued a statement
on why the decision to return Richard Stallman to the organization's board of
directors was taken.
We decided to bring RMS back because we missed his
wisdom. His historical, legal and technical acumen on free software is
unrivaled. He has a deep sensitivity to the ways that technologies can
contribute to both the enhancement and the diminution of basic human rights. His
global network of connections is invaluable. He remains the most articulate
philosopher and an unquestionably dedicated advocate of freedom in
computing.
RMS acknowledges that he has made mistakes. He has sincere
regrets, especially at how anger toward him personally has negatively impacted
the reputation and mission of FSF. While his personal style remains troubling
for some, a majority of the board feel his behavior has moderated and believe
that his thinking strengthens the work of the FSF in pursuit of its mission.
There is also a separate statement from Stallman.
