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diff --git a/news/2023-q3.mdwn b/news/2023-q3.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..c2dd012a --- /dev/null +++ b/news/2023-q3.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,193 @@ +[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc."]] + +[[!meta license="""[[!toggle id="license" text="GFDL 1.2+"]][[!toggleable +id="license" text="Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this +document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or +any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant +Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license +is included in the section entitled [[GNU Free Documentation +License|/fdl]]."]]"""]] + +[[!meta date="2024-01-01 22:22 UTC"]] + +Hello! Welcome to a new qoth. This qoth covers new and interesting GNU/Hurd +developments in Q3 of 2023! +[[!if test="included()" then="""[[!toggle id=full_news +text="Details."]][[!toggleable id=full_news text="[[!paste id=full_news]]"]]""" +else=" +[[!paste id=full_news]]"]] + +[[!cut id="full_news" text=""" + +Joan Lledo modified the PCI arbiter to prevent mapping I/O region +files. He previously sent some patches to implement mapping region +and ROM files using `mmap()`. However, a `BAR` region can represent +either memory or I/O space, and only memory should be allowed to be +mapped. Since I/O `BARs` only contain I/O addresses, he went ahead +and [[prevented the mapping of I/O region +files|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-07/msg00041.html]]. The +next step is to make IO spaces available for users through the +pci-arbiter. He plans to add a new RPC that checks for permission and +calls `i386_io_perm_create()`. Then it returns the resulting port. + +Our Google summer of code student Vedant Tewari decided to port rust, +and the rust porting effort is making good progress. [[The build +process is a bit +wonky|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00091.html]], +and Debian is using an older rust version. Check out [[the rust pull +request|https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/115230]] that adds Hurd +support! + +[[Samuel|samuelthibault]] worked on setting up +[[PAE|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension]], +which will eventually let us use more than 4GB of RAM on a 32-bit +Hurd! It is also useful for the X86_64 architecture. He also fixed the +[[jemalloc|https://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2023/08/msg00000.html]] +build. + +Samuel was incredibly productive this quarter making the `X86_64` bit +port more stable. He fixed the 64-bit Hurd [[ +PIE|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00040.html]] +build, and he got [[git +working|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00059.html]] +on the 64-bit port! Though a few of the [[git +tests|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00069.html]] +are failing on both `X86_64` and the 32 bit port. He fixed the [[glibc +build|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00064.html]], +which involved fixing `pmap_remove` and `pmap_protect`. He discovered +that [[core dumping is currently causing +problems|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00068.html]] +on the 64-bit port, and he temporarily encourages people to disable +core dumping. Samuel fixed some [[networking +issues|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00027.html]] +and a [[dpkg +issue|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00058.html]] +for the 64-bit port. It was hard to discover what the problem was, +because the debugging tools have not been ported to the 64-bit port. +He add some helpers to locking to fix some bugs, and he encourages other +developers to help him fix the debugging tools for X86-64. It seems +that most developers are currently running the 64-bit Hurd in a +virtual machine and not in real hardware. + +Luca Dariz got a patch series merged +[[for|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00000.html]] +[[the|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00001.html]] +[[64|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00002.html]] +[[bit|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00003.html]] +[[port|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00004.html]]. + +Sergey implemented +[[MAP_EXCL|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-07/msg00010.html]] +and provided `MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE` and `MAP_TRYFIXED` as aliases of +`(MAP_FIXED|MAP_EXCL)` as well other `mmap` work. He explains: + +> `MAP_FIXED` is defined to silently replace any existing mappings at +> the address range being mapped over. However, this is dangerous and +> only rarely desired behavior. +> +> Various Unix systems provide replacements or additions to `MAP_FIXED`. +> +> * SerenityOS and Linux provide `MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE`. If the address space +> already contains a mapping in the requested range, Linux returns +> `EEXIST`. SerenityOS returns `ENOMEM`, however that is a bug, as the +> `MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE` implementation is intended to be compatible with +> Linux. +> +> * DragonFly BSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD provide `MAP_TRYFIXED`, but with +> different semantics. DragonFly BSD returns `ENOMEM` if the requested +> range already contains existing mappings. NetBSD does not return an +> error, but instead creates the mapping at a different address if the +> requested range contains mappings. OpenBSD behaves the same, but also +> notes that this is the default behavior even without `MAP_TRYFIXED` +> (which is the case on the Hurd too). +> +> Since the Hurd leans closer to the BSD side, add `MAP_EXCL` as the +> primary API to request the behavior of not replacing existing +> mappings. Declare `MAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE` and `MAP_TRYFIXED` as +> aliases of `(MAP_FIXED|MAP_EXCL)`, so any existing software that +> checks for either of those macros will pick them up +> automatically. For compatibility with Linux, return `EEXIST` if a +> mapping already exists. + +Damien Zammit added a USB mass storage translator via +[[rumpusbdisk|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-07/msg00025.html]]. +Though it has some issues as he explains: + +> Netdde sneems to exhibit a bug when running `ifdown /dev/eth0` +> simultanously to running the rumpusbdisk translator, because to the +> two devices share the same IRQ. + +Damien also worked on the Hurd's SMP support (much of his SMP +contributions is based on the earlier work done by Almudena Garcia): + +* He tweaked [[GNU Mach's +scheduler|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00084.html]], +and he merged [[three|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00080.html]] [[GNU Mach|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00010.html]] [[commits|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00018.html]]. + +* He added a [[show all +runqs|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00072.html]] +command to GNU Mach's kernel debugger. + +* He also [[improved SMP in GNU +Mach|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00048.html]] +by storing the struct processor in a percpu area and avoiding an +expensive `cpu_number` every call of `current_processor()`, as well as +getting the cpu_number from an offset in the percpu area. Further +improvements can be made by using other percpu areas. It was untested +on 64 bit. + +* Damien also taught GNU Mach to use the x86 CPUID instruction to get +the [[CPU +ID|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00056.html]] +for speed. He reduced the time it takes to get the CPUID. He made it +100 times faster! + +* He mentioned +[[some|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00075.html]] [[issues|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00046.html]]: +60% of the time, booting a 32 bit Hurd, with SMP enabled, fails to +boot (sometimes apparently getting stuck in the rumpdisk). When it +does boot, it is not particularly stable and likely to crash. + +Essentially, the SMP work is progressing, but it is not ready for +production use. His recent work made the non-SMP faster, and a 32 bit +Hurd, with SMP enabled and only one core, [[appears relatively stable +(but slow to +boot)|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00046.html]]. +The [[32-bit SMP enabled Hurd may soon be as fast as the non-SMP +Hurd|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00074.html]]. +Eventually the SMP enabled Hurd will be faster than a non-SMP Hurd. + +Flavio Cruz halved the size of `mach_msg_type_long_t`, from 16 to 8 +bytes. He also [[simplified the overall 64bit RPC +ABI|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-08/msg00049.html]], +removing "holes" in `mach_msg_type_t` or `mach_msg_type_long_t`, which +prevents possible leakages to userspace. + +Some Hurd people talked to Kent Overstreet, the author of +[[bcachefs|https://bcachefs.org/]] to discuss the possibility of +porting Linux's newest filesystem to the Hurd; the conversation [[was +recorded|https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2023-09/msg00073.html]]. +While most Hurd developers believe that it would possible to port +bcachefs to the Hurd, all agree that it would be difficult to port and +hard to maintain. No Hurd developers are currently planning or +working on porting bcachefs to the Hurd. But perhaps you want to? + +So if you want to test if your favorite packages work on the Hurd and +contribute towards making the full GNU system usable for a wider range +of people, please [[check the contributing page|contributing]]. + +--- + +The **GNU Hurd** is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a +collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file +systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are +implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). [[More +detailed|hurd/documentation]]. + +**GNU Mach** is the microkernel upon which a GNU Hurd system is based. It +provides an Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism that the Hurd uses to +define interfaces for implementing in a distributed multi-server fashion the +services a traditional operating system kernel provides. [[More +detailed|microkernel/mach/gnumach]]. + +"""]] |