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The Google security blog providesan overview of what is being done to address memory-safety problems inthe Chrome browser.

Stable kernels 5.14.7, 5.10.68, 5.4.148, 4.19.207, 4.14.247, 4.9.283, and 4.4.284 have been released. They all containimportant fixes and users should upgrade.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (grilo), Fedora (curl, firefox, mingw-python-pillow, python-pillow, python2-pillow, and webkit2gtk3), openSUSE (chromium, grafana-piechart-panel, kernel, libcroco, php-composer, and xen), Oracle (curl, kernel, and nss and nspr), Red Hat (nodejs:12), Slackware (alpine), SUSE (ghostscript, grafana-piechart-panel, kernel, and xen), and Ubuntu (linux, linux-hwe, linux-hwe-5.11, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, and linux-raspi2).

Alyssa Rosenzweig reportsthat the open-source Panfrost driver for Mali GPUs has achieved officialconformance on Mali-G52 for OpenGL ES 3.1.

Middleboxes are,unfortunately in many ways, a big part of today's internet. While middleboxesinhabit the same physical niche as routers, they are not aimed at packet forwarding;instead they are meant to monitor and manipulate the packets that theysee. The effects of those devices on users of the networks they reign over may beunfortunate as well, but the rest of the internet is only affected whentrying to communicate with those users—or so it was thought. Based on somerecently reported research, it turns out that middleboxes can be abused to inflict denial-of-service (DoS) attacks elsewhere on the net.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (webkit2gtk, wpewebkit, and xen), Oracle (kernel), Red Hat (curl, go-toolset:rhel8, krb5, mysql:8.0, nodejs:12, and nss and nspr), and Ubuntu (curl and tiff).

Ben Hoyt has published a criticaloverview of the Python 3.10 pattern-matching feature.

The first day of the Kangrejos (Rust for Linux) conferenceintroduced the project and what it was trying to accomplish; day 2 covered a number of core Rustconcepts and their relevance to the kernel. On the third and final day ofthe conference, Wedson Almeida Filho delved deeper into how Rust can bemade to work in the Linux kernel, covered some of the lessons that have beenlearned so far, and discussed next steps with a number of kerneldevelopers.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (gnutls28, nettle, nextcloud-desktop, and openssl1.0), Fedora (dovecot-fts-xapian, drupal7, ghostscript, haproxy, libtpms, lynx, wordpress, and xen), openSUSE (xen), Red Hat (rh-ruby27-ruby), and SUSE (openssl, openssl1, and xen).

The 5.15-rc2 kernel prepatch is out fortesting.

The relatively large5.14.6,5.13.19, and5.10.67stable kernel updates have been released; each contains another set ofimportant fixes. Note that this is the final update for the 5.13.xseries.

Here's apost from Christian Schaller describing a number of thedesktop-oriented improvements that can be expected in the Fedora 35release.

Ariadne Conill looksat the difficulties caused by the OpenSSL 3 transition in thecontext of Alpine Linux.

The first day of the online Kangrejos conference was focused onintroducing the effort to bring the Rust programming language into the Linux kernel. On the second day, conference organizer Miguel Ojeda shiftedto presenting the Rust language itself with an emphasis on what Rust canprovide for kernel development. The result was a useful resource foranybody who is curious about this project, but who has not yet had the timeto become familiar with Rust.

Security updates have been issued by CentOS (firefox and thunderbird), Fedora (haproxy, wordpress, and xen), openSUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, fail2ban, ghostscript, haserl, libcroco, nextcloud, and wireshark), Oracle (kernel and kernel-container), Slackware (httpd), SUSE (crmsh, gtk-vnc, libcroco, Mesa, postgresql12, postgresql13, and transfig), and Ubuntu (libgcrypt20, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-oem-5.13, python3.4, python3.5, and qtbase-opensource-src).

Four new stable kernels, 5.14.5, 5.13.18, 5.10.66, and 5.4.147, have been released.

Thisars technica article describes a problem with the Traviscontinuous-integration service:

The first ever Rust for Linux conference, known as Kangrejos, got underway onSeptember 13. Organizer Miguel Ojeda used the opening session to givean overview of why there is interest in using Rust in the kernel, where thechallenges are, and what the current status is. The talk and followingdiscussion provided a good overview of what is driving this initiative andwhere some of the sticking points might be.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (sssd), Fedora (libtpms and vim), openSUSE (kernel and php7-pear), Oracle (kernel), Slackware (curl), and Ubuntu (libgcrypt20 and squashfs-tools).

The LWN.net Weekly Edition for September 16, 2021 is available.

Back in January 2020, we looked at someoddities in Python's handling of Not a Number (NaN) values inits statisticsmodule. The conversation went quiet after that, but it has beenrevived recently with an eye toward fixing the problems that were reported.As detailed in that earlier article, NaNs are rather strange beasts in thefloating-point universe, so figuring out how best to deal with theirpresence is less straightforward than it might seem.

Stable kernels 5.14.4, 5.13.17, 5.10.65, and 5.4.146 have been released. There areimportant fixes throughout the tree and users should upgrade.

Security updates have been issued by Arch Linux (chromium, element-desktop, element-web, firefox, ghostscript, and hedgedoc), Fedora (kernel and openssl), openSUSE (ghostscript, htmldoc, and openssl-1_0_0), Oracle (libtirpc), Red Hat (cyrus-imapd, kernel, and kernel-rt), SUSE (ghostscript), and Ubuntu (apport, curl, and squashfs-tools).

The Roundup Issue Trackeris a flexible tool for managing issues via the web oremail. However, Roundup is useful for more thanweb-based bug tracking or help-desk ticketing; it can be used as a simple wiki or to manage taskswith the Getting ThingsDone (GTD) methodology. The 20th-anniversaryedition ofRoundup,version 2.1.0, wasreleased in July; it is a maintenance release, but there have been a numberof larger improvements in the last year or so. Here we introduce Roundup'sfeatures along with therecent developments that have helped make Roundup even more useful for trackingissues to their resolution.

Security updates have been issued by openSUSE (libaom and nextcloud), Oracle (cyrus-imapd, firefox, and thunderbird), Red Hat (kernel and kpatch-patch), Scientific Linux (firefox and thunderbird), and Ubuntu (apport).

Thisrelease on PostgreSQL.org describes an ongoing disagreement over thePostgreSQL trademark:

Linus Torvalds released 5.15-rc1 and closedthe merge window for this release on September 12; at that point, 10,471 non-mergechangesets had found their way into the mainline repository. Thosechangesets contain a lot of significant changes and improvements. Read onfor a summary of what came into the mainline in the roughly 7,000changesets pulled since our first-halfsummary was written.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (qemu and thunderbird), Fedora (chromium, firefox, and mosquitto), openSUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, gifsicle, openssl-1_1, php7-pear, and wireshark), Oracle (oswatcher), Red Hat (cyrus-imapd, firefox, and thunderbird), SUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, compat-openssl098, php7-pear, and wireshark), and Ubuntu (git and linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-hwe, linux-azure, linux-azure-4.15, linux-dell300x, linux-hwe, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-snapdragon).

Version 11.1 of the GDB debugger is out. There are a number of newfeatures, and somebody will surely be disappointed to see that support fordebugging Arm Symbian programs has been removed.

Linus has released 5.15-rc1 and closed themerge window for this development cycle.

The5.14.3,5.13.16,5.10.64, and5.4.145stable kernel updates have been released; each contains another set ofimportant fixes.

The Linux Foundation has announced that Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) has become an international standard (ISO/IEC 5962:2021). SPDX has been used in the kernel and other projects to identify the licenses and attach other metadata to software components.

When we last caught up with the page folio patch set, it appeared to be ontrack to be pulled into the mainline during the 5.15 merge window. MatthewWilcox duly sent a pullrequest in August to make that happen. While it is possible thatfolios could still end up in 5.15, that has not happened as of this writingand appears increasingly unlikely. What we got instead was a lengthydiscussion on the merits of the folio approach.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (firefox-esr, ghostscript, ntfs-3g, and postorius), Fedora (java-1.8.0-openjdk-aarch32, libtpms, and salt), openSUSE (libaom, libtpms, and openssl-1_0_0), Red Hat (openstack-neutron), SUSE (grilo, java-1_7_0-openjdk, libaom, libtpms, mariadb, openssl-1_0_0, openssl-1_1, and php74-pear), and Ubuntu (firefox and ghostscript).

This blog post byLoris Cro makes the claim that the Ziglanguage isthe solution to a lot of low-level programming problems:

The Linux extended-attribute mechanism allows the attachment of metadata tofiles within a filesystem. It tends to be little used — at least, in theabsence of a security module like SELinux. There is interest in how theseattributes work, though, as evidenced by the discussions that havefollowed the posting of revisions of thispatch by Vivek Goyal, which seeks to make a seemingly small change tothe rules regarding extended attributes and special files.

The Open Source Initiative has announced theappointment of Stefano Maffulli as its executive director."'Bringing Stefano Maffulli on board as OSI’s first ExecutiveDirector is the culmination of a years-long march towardprofessionalization, so that OSI can be a stronger and more responsiveadvocate for open source,' says Joshua Simmons, Board Chair of OSI."

Security updates have been issued by Fedora (lynx, matrix-synapse, and proftpd), openSUSE (ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs), Oracle (kernel), Red Hat (RHV-H), Scientific Linux (kernel), and Ubuntu (libapache2-mod-auth-mellon, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.11, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.11, linux-gcp, linux-hwe-5.11, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.11, linux-raspi, linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-azure, linux-azure-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-gke, linux-gke-5.4, linux-gkeop, linux-gkeop-5.4, linux-kvm, linux-oracle, linux-oracle-5.4, and linux-azure-5.8, linux-oem-5.10).

The LWN.net Weekly Edition for September 9, 2021 is available.

Two recent threads on the python-ideas mailing list have overlapped to acertain extent; both referred to Python's style guide, but the discussionindicates that the advice in it may have been stretched further than intended. PEP 8("Style Guide for Python Code") is the longstanding set ofguidelines and suggestions for code that is going into the standardlibrary, but the "rules" in the PEP have been applied in settings and tools well outside of thatrealm. There may be reasons to update the PEP—some unrelated work of that nature isongoing, in fact—but Pythonistas need to remember that the suggestions init are not carved in stone.

Stable kernels 5.14.2, 5.13.15, and 5.10.63 have been released. As usual, thereare important fixes and users should upgrade.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (haproxy), Fedora (libguestfs, ntfs-3g, ntfs-3g-system-compression, partclone, testdisk, vim, and wimlib), Mageia (kernel and kernel-linus), openSUSE (haproxy), Oracle (kernel), Red Hat (kernel, kernel-rt, and kpatch-patch), SUSE (haproxy), and Ubuntu (cpio, haproxy, libapache2-mod-auth-mellon, libgd2, linux, linux-aws, linux-kvm, linux-lts-xenial, openvswitch, python-pysaml2, and sssd).

Firefox 92.0 has been released. Inthis version Firefox can now automatically upgrade to HTTPS using HTTPS RRas Alt-Svc headers, support full-range color levels for video playback onmany systems, and more.Firefox78.14.0 ESR and Firefox91.1.0 have also been released. ESR78 will reach end-of-life inNovember.

Amateur ("ham") radio operators have been experimenting with ways to usecomputers in their hobby since PCs became widely available—perhaps evenbefore then. While manypeople picture hams either talking into a microphone or tapping a telegraphkey, many hams now type on a keyboard or even click buttons on a computer screen to makecontacts. Even hams who still prefer to talk or use Morse code may stilluse computers for some things, such as logging contacts or predictingradio conditions. While most hams use Windows, there is no shortage of hamradio software for Linux.

Security updates have been issued by openSUSE (apache2, java-11-openjdk, libesmtp, nodejs10, ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs, openssl-1_1, xen, and xerces-c), Red Hat (kernel-rt and kpatch-patch), and SUSE (ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs and openssl-1_1).

Version 3.0 of the OpenSSL TLS library has been released; the largeversion-number jump (from 1.1.1) reflects a new versioning scheme.

The linux.conf.au organizers have put out a second, extended call forproposals for the 2022 event, which will be held online startingJanuary 14.

Once upon a time, block storage devices were slow, to the point that theyoften limited the speed of the system as a whole. A great deal of effortwent into carefully ordering requests to get the best performance out ofthe storage device; achieving that goal was well worth expending some CPUtime. But then storage devices got much faster and the equation changed.Fancy I/O-scheduling mechanisms have fallen by the wayside and effort is nowfocused on optimizing code so that the CPU can keep up with its storage. Ablock-layer change that was merged for the 5.15 kernel shows the kinds oftradeoffs that must be made to get the best performance from current hardware.

Security updates have been issued by Debian (btrbk, pywps, and squashfs-tools), Fedora (libguestfs, libss7, ntfs-3g, ntfs-3g-system-compression, partclone, testdisk, wimlib, and xen), Mageia (exiv2, golang, libspf2, and ruby-addressable), openSUSE (apache2, dovecot23, gstreamer-plugins-good, java-11-openjdk, libesmtp, mariadb, nodejs10, opera, python39, sssd, and xerces-c), and SUSE (apache2, java-11-openjdk, libesmtp, mariadb, nodejs10, python39, sssd, xen, and xerces-c).

Version 21.02.0 of the OpenWrt router distribution is out. "Itincorporates over 5800 commits since branching the previous OpenWrt 19.07release and has been under development for about one and a halfyear". Significant changes include WPA3 support by default, TLSsupport in opkg and in the LuCi interface, initial DistributedSwitch Architecture support, new hardware support, and more. See the releasenotes for more information.