Zack's Kernel News
Zack's Kernel News
Zack discusses mysterious alignments in the kernel; and discovery and invention.
Mysterious Alignments in the Kernel
Sudip Mukherjee reported a build failure with the mainline kernel source tree. This is fairly unusual. Most patches get tested to see if they'll compile on a variety of different systems before the patch is accepted, but a build failure can happen.
After noticing the failure, Sudip did a git bisect – a fast way to jump half the distance to the problem, then half the remaining distance, and so on. It's one of the most common techniques for identifying which patch actually caused a bug. Sudip used it to track the problem down to a small patch that compared the number of bytes used by two different variables that needed to be the same.
Linus Torvalds is often interested in build failures or crashes in the mainline tree because he maintains that tree himself. Linus responded right away to Sudip. He said he had looked at the data size comparison, and it seemed like a good patch to him. He said, "That BUILD_BUG_ON() looks entirely correct, and if that sizeof() doesn't work, then the code doesn't work." In other words, the check was appropriate. Linus added, "I'm not seeing what could go wrong in there."
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.