Zack's Kernel News
Zack's Kernel News

Zack Brown discusses preventing the kernel from tainting, encrypting printk() output, and a new kernel bug reporting bot.
Preventing the Kernel from Tainting
Matthew Garrett recently posted a patch to allow users to select at compile time whether the kernel would be "tainted" when loading unsigned modules. In the Linux world, tainting refers to whether the kernel is entirely open source or not. For example, if a user loads a binary-only module from a third-party vendor, it would taint the kernel because the module is not open source. The reason this is significant is that the Linux developers don't want to respond to bug reports that could be related to closed-source blobs of code to which they don't have access. Typically if a user sends in a bug report using a tainted kernel, the Linux developers will ask that user to reproduce the bug using an untainted kernel.
It wasn't immediately clear why Matthew wanted this code added to the kernel. He only said, "Distributions may wish to provide kernels that permit loading of unsigned modules based on certain policy decisions."
Rusty Russell said Matthew's explanation was too vague and asked for clarification.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
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
-
There's a New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle is a Linux AI assistant that can work 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.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.