Faster and Leaner: Linux-tiny
The smallest kernel, put together thanks to a collection of patches by the Linux-tiny project, weighs in at just 197KB. After two years of inactivity, maintainers Michael Opdenacker and other developers are looking to breath new life into the project.
The "Linux-tiny Project" was originally launched by Matt Mackall, who was the maintainer of the patch kit for several years. Tim Bird, on of the members of the new team, which also includes John Cooper, who works for embedded system specialists Wind River, announced the rebirth of the project on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (lkml). The first new patch kit has been updated, and is now available for kernel 2.6.22. The main objective of the current releases is comprehensive testing to evaluate the most effective sub-patches over the next few months. The target platform is old 386 systems and handhelds say the developers.
Kernel Maintainer Andrew Morton said he was thrilled, posting on the kernel mailing list. He would like to add the patches to the "-mm" tree to integrate them with the mainline kernel as quickly as possible. He writes "putting this stuff into some private patch collection should be a complete last resort - you should only do this with patches which you (and the rest of us) agree have no hope of ever getting into mainline."
Michael Opdenacker, the new project maintainer, agrees with Morton's suggestion: "you're completely right... The patches should all aim at being included into mainline or die." Tim Bird adds that "The patch kit gives a place for things to live while they are out of mainline, and still have multiple people use and work on them.", and goes on to say, "Optimally the duration of being out-of-mainline would be short, but my experience is that sometimes what an embedded developer considers reasonable to hack off the kernel is not considered so reasonable by other developers (even with config options)."
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
-
The GNU Project Celebrates Its 40th Birthday
September 27 marks the 40th anniversary of the GNU Project, and it was celebrated with a hacker meeting in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.
-
UbuntuDDE 23.04 Now Available
A new version of the UbuntuDDE remix has finally arrived with all the updates from the Deepin desktop and everything that comes with the Ubuntu 23.04 base.