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
-
Xubuntu Site Possibly Hacked
It appears that the Xubuntu site was hacked and briefly served up a malicious ZIP file from its download page.
-
LMDE 7 Now Available
Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 7, has been officially released and is based on upstream Debian.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.
-
Amazon Ditches Android for a Linux-Based OS
Amazon has migrated from Android to the Linux-based Vega OS for its Fire TV.
-
Cairo Dock 3.6 Now Available for More Compositors
If you're a fan of third-party desktop docks, then the latest release of Cairo Dock with Wayland support is for you.
-
System76 Unleashes Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
System76's first beta of Pop!_OS 24.04 is an impressive feat.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).