Wonderful World of Linux 2.6 - Linux 2.6 features document (first revision)

Hello,

I've recently put together the first draft of a features document describing the changes in Linux 2.6. (I did similar documents for both Linux 2.2 and Linux 2.4.) It's based almost entirely on BitKeeper changelogs (with clarifying information pulled from the lists and the web), so there is a chance that I misunderstood something or that I missed something else entirely. Please give it a look over and if you see anything that needs a look-over, please let me know. As it stands now, I feel pretty good about how it turned out so I'm finally comfortable mailing what I have around. (There are still a couple areas that need expanding on, I think...)

As of right now, you can find the latest versions of the document available online.

Text version: http://www.kniggit.net/wwol26.txt

Tersely formatted HTML: http://www.kniggit.net/wwol26.html

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Joe Pranevich
jpranevich<at>kniggit.net

An excellent and well-written document, indeed.
It's been worth reading :-)

First of all, thank you for the great work you have done again, it is worth each line :-). Now, a couple of corrections:

"And finally, Linux 2.6 will include improved 64-bit support on block devices that support it, even on 32-bit platforms such as i386. This allows for filesystems up to 2TB."

This should read "This allows for filesystems greater than 2 TB", or even better "This allows for block devices greater than 2 TB". I think maximun block device and filesytem sizes are independent, but I could be wrong, because I am not an expert :)

And now, an omission. Linux kernel 2.4.x had LVM1, and has been replaced by DM (Device Mapper), that is said to be a better thought implementation of the same concept. The nice part is DM in 2.6.0 will be able to activate and drive 2.4.x LV (Logical Volumes), provided a recent version of the LVM2 userspace tools are used.

Apart from this, I think EVMS (Enterprise Volume Management System) deserves some credit. It was never included in standard 2.4.x kernels, but now that EVMS userspace tools use DM (as LVM2 does) and provide for a complete disk management system, maybe it also could have a little place in your excellent document.

Jose Luis Domingo Lopez
Linux Registered User #189436     Debian Linux Sid (Linux 2.6.0-test1)

Hi ;),

Great document :) !! It was definetily more interesting that BitKeeper Changelogs ;). I think you should mail this document to linux documentation projects, kernelnewbies and such, sure it'll be useful for a lot of people.

David Gómez

"The question of whether computers can think is just like the question of
 whether submarines can swim." -- Edsger W. Dijkstra

Well done :-)

One small typo: at the end, "abuse" should be "about".

Ruth