The latest Linux release candidate helps circumvent a hardware disaster
Last minute patch was the only noteworthy change in an otherwise regular release
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An urgent set of patches for the latest release candidate (RC) of the under-developmentLinuxv5.15 kernel reportedly helped the popularopen sourcekernel avert what’s described as a “hardware trainwreck”.
Phoronixcaught hold of last minute urgent updates sent hours before Linus Torvalds, the kernel’s principle developer, was to put out the fifth RC of the upcoming kernel.
The patch was added by longtime kernel developer Thomas Gleixner who described it as “yet another attempt at fixing the never-ending saga of botched x86 timers…”
Gleixner’s patch made it to Torvalds’Linux v5.15-rc5 release, who called the release a fairly normal one at this stage of development.
Saving a trainwreck
Gleixner’s patch was titled “use another crystalball to evaluate HPET usability,” and aimed to fix an issue with the high precision event timer (HPET) coming to a halt on modernIntelprocessors, under certain circumstances, even if it is being used by the kernel.
Phoronixsays that the kernel has employed various mechanisms in the past to workaround the problem with HPET.
The problems date back to 2019 when Linux first experimented with disabling HPET on selectIntelplatforms. However, since there have been quirks in the previous solutions, Gleixner’s latest patch will simply disable HPET when it detects the presence of the PC10 power state.
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Assuming that things go according to plan, Linux 5.15 should come out towards late October/early November.
ViaPhoronix
With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’sTechRadar Pro’sexpert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.
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