Zack's Kernel News
Zack's Kernel News

This month in Kernel News: Dealing with Older GCC Versions; and On-boarding New Kernel Hackers.
Dealing with Older GCC Versions
This past year, Linus Torvalds upped the supported version of GCC to version 4.9 or newer. The idea is that it's good to support older as well as newer versions, because then people running on old systems can still compile the kernel. At the same time, if no one in the world is using a particular older compiler, you might be able to simplify some kernel code by removing support for that compiler. So there's not only an incentive for the kernel developers to support older compilers, there's also an incentive for them to abandon very old compilers when they can safely get away with it.
It's an ever-advancing debate. Recently for example, Thomas Gleixner threw up his hands in disgust at some compiler behavior. Arnd Bergmann had posted some kernel patches to work around some ugly compiler behavior in GCC 4.9 that wasn't necessary in GCC 5 and newer.
Specifically, Arnd's code added some symbol references that were never actually used in the code. The symbols were then also referenced in unused inline functions, so as not to trigger a warning. Then, as Thomas pointed out, the symbols and the inline functions were all optimized out of the final compiled binary.
[...]
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
-
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.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs Transitions to Linux
Another major organization has decided to kick Microsoft Windows and Office to the curb in favor of Linux.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.