From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: Linux v. 0.97 is out
Summary: new version release
Keywords: 0.97 kernel
Date: 1 Aug 92 15:08:38 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
[ I already sent this to the mailing-list, and it's the same
release-note, so if you already saw it, you can skip this ]
Linux version 0.97 is available as both a complete source-tree
(linux-0.97.tar.Z) and a bootimage (bootimage-0.97.Z) on the normal
ftp-sites. It's in incoming on tsx-11.mit.edu, so it will take a day or
two to actually show up, but it's available right now on
nic.funet.fi:
pub/OS/Linux/testing/Linus/
banjo.concert.net:
pub/Linux/Linus/
The nic.funet.fi-directory is under 'testing' not so much because this
would be a testing-release, but because the directory-setup is in
testing :-). I think 'testing' is unreadable, so you have to cd to the
directory blindly.
There is also a kernel-compilation README (written by Lars Wirzenius),
as well as a COPYING (which is just a pointer to the GNU copyleft). The
latter not because anything has changed, but because I got a few mails
pointing out that the copyright of linux wasn't too clear. That also
resulted in changing the '(C)'s in the source to 'Copyright'.
Changes in 0.97:
- The VESA-support was removed. I'd be happy to put it back once it
works on all hardware. Instead of the VESA-code, I finally put in
the automatic SVGA setup patches. See the top-level Makefile.
- The IRQ code has solidified, and should work on all machines. Not
all of the SCSI drivers use it yet, so I expect patches for that..
- Serial interrupts are handled slightly differently, and performance
should be up. I've sent out a few alpha-releases, and testing seems
to indicate that's actually true this time. Reactions have ranged
from "nice" to "wonderful" :-)
- The buffer-cache and memory management code has been edited quite a
bit. ps/free etc programs that reads kernel memory directly no
longer work, and even a recompilation won't be enough. They actually
need editing before they work.
The buffer-cache now grows and shrinks dynamically depending on how
much free memory there is. Shift+PrintScreen will give some memory
statistics. (Ctrl+PrSc gives task-info, ALT+PrSc gives current
register values).
The mm code changes removed some race-conditions in the VM code, and
I also tried to make the Out-of-swapspace error less severe (better
thrashing-detection etc).
- The super-block code has been cleaned up. Especially the extended fs
needs to be edited a bit to take advantage of the new setup, and I
expect Remy Card will have a patch out eventually.
- include-files have been moved around some more: there are still some
names that clash with the standard headers, but not many.
- Unswappable processes implemented: by default only 'init' is
unswappable. This is a bit safer in low-memory conditions, as at
least init won't die due to low memory. I also made killing init
impossible: if init doesn't recognize a signal, it simply won't get
it. Some other changes ("while (1) fork();" won't kill the machine
for non-root users etc)
- The new SCSI drivers are in. These make the kernel noticeably
bigger, but you can leave them out if you don't want them.
- The floppy- and hd-drivers print out more debugging-info in case of
errors: this might be irritating if you have hardware that works, but
often gives soft-errors. On the other hand, some old debugging-info
was removed - notably for user-level protection errors etc.
- Various minor fixes. I haven't made cdiffs (and I haven't gotten any
requests for them, so I probably never will), but they would be
pretty big.
Things that I didn't have time for:
- I wanted to rewrite the tty drivers to be more "streams-like" (ie not
an actual streams-implementation, but some of the ideas from
streams). I never got around to it: there was simply too much else
to do.
- I got a lot of patches, and some went in, others didn't. If you
think your patch was important, please re-send it relative to the new
version.
I'd like comments on the new system: performance / clarity of code etc.
0.97 should correct all known bugs (at least the ones I know about), but
I guess that's just wishful thinking.
Note that the dynamic buffer-code also handles differently-sized
buffers, but that the rest of the system (block device drivers,
filesystem code etc) cannot yet take advantage of this - there is still
some coding needed.
Linus
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: =.97 patch1 available on nic
Date: 6 Aug 92 10:47:32 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
It seems all connections to Finland are down (or at least some server is
acting up), so patch1 is available only on nic.funet.fi:
pub/OS/Linux/testing/Linus/linux-0.97.patch1.Z
I'll upload it to the other sites when I get a working ftp-connection.
Patch 1 is essentially a performance-release, but it also contains some
other patches: Ross Biro's tcp-ip stubs are there (but not the tcpip
subdirectory: alpha-testers should know where to find that), as are the
ext-fs superblock cleanups. The first header-file patch by hlu is also
in there.
The resulting patch is pretty big - it's also not as cleaned up as I'd
like it to be. The swapping/buffer-block handling heuristics are
better, but could still do with some tuning. Also, the idle task in
this version doesn't do very much: it will be expanded to do some more
page-table calculations.
I will be unable to hack on linux for a couple of weeks (I'll still
answer mails, read the newsgroup and fix bugs, but no heavy-duty
hacking) due to some "circumstances beyond my control". That probably
means that this patch is the last one for a while (three weeks) unless
some bad bugs show up.
Linus
From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
Subject: linux-0.97 patchlevel 2
Date: 23 Aug 92 22:17:41 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki
As promised, 0.97.pl2 is out today (well, over here it's already
tomorrow, so I guess I'm 35 minutes late. Naughty, naughty). Right
now, the patch (and full source for those that don't like to patch up
the system) is available at "nic.funet.fi: pub/OS/Linux/testing/Linus",
but I'll try to put it on some other sites as well if I'm able and
energetic enough. Probably tomorrow - together with a binary for those
that aren't willing to comple the kernel on their own.
0.97.2 has mostly my mm/fs patches, along with some relatively minor
diffs by others (including file locking by Doug Evans). User-level
changes are minor: but the mm has changed a lot, and the vfs routines
have been changed to keep track of the error-messages a bit better.
Also, the vfs-interface to "follow_link()" changed slightly: people who
are making filesystems should look at the changes (but they are
relatively minor, and shouldn't result in any problems - both the
extended fs and minix fs needed just a simple change in their respective
symlink.c files).
The mm changes /might/ lower performance slightly, as the paging TLB's
are now flushed at every task-switch due to the new system, but I doubt
it's noticeable. The other performance changes (dynamic buffers etc) in
0.97(.pl1) should overshadow that particular problem.
I hope this release means that these kinds of low-level rewrites aren't
needed for a while: the last couple of releases have changed some very
fundamental things. Nothing seems to have suffered too badly, but I'd
be happier if it all got tested more thoroughly. Anyway, discounting
the ps/free etc suite of programs, everything I have tried has worked
flawlessly despite the big kernel changes.
I'm still worried about the reports about messed-up buffers, but have
been unable to reproduce the problem, and nobody has so far
disillusioned me about my guess that it's a problem with the SCSI code
(which at least gives me an excuse for not doing anything about it :-).
Other problems include at least one report of spontaneous re-booting,
which is totally inexplicable, so I'm blaming hardware once more until I
can get better data on the thing.
As to patches sent by others: 0.97.2 contains very little of that kind
of code. I've been too busy either working, or implementing my own
changes that I have simply ignored them for the most part. Remind me
(or resend them relative to the new kernel) if you have a patch that is
still needed.
There is one new system call: 'vm86(struct vm86_struct * info)'. It's
not ready for general use yet - it works, but will probably need some
tweaking before being practical. But supporting a virtual 86 mode was
so easy after the mm rewrite that I felt it was worth implementing: the
vm86 code is less than 50 lines of C right now.
Linus
PS. The bright spot of the week goes to "The Oxford Beer Trolls" - all
UK inhabitants should probably be locked into some (big) mental
institution and TOBT should probably have a wing of their own, but
thanks to them linux can now call itself "beerware" :-)
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