Linux 2.2.17 Release Notes Platforms:Alpha, PowerPC, Sparc, X86 Introduction Linux 2.2.17 is the latest update to the Linux kernel tree. The out of the box tree supports the Alpha, PPC, Sparc and X86 platforms. MIPS is mostly merged but you should obtain the platform specific tree. ARM, M680x0 and S/390 users should get their platform specific tree. Compilers This code is intended to build with gcc 2.7.2 and egcs 1.1.2. Patches for building with gcc 2.95 are merged but less tested than other compilers. Caution is recommended when using gcc 2.95 and feedback is sought. Binary Compatibility Linux 2.2.17 changes a few internal system structures. You may need to rebuild a few third party modules such as pcmcia-cs when upgrading from older kernels to this one. Security Notes Linux 2.2.17 contains no significant security updates. Security Updates IDE/SCSI raw commands We now require CAP_SYS_RAW_IO for these. IP chains A casting error could occasionally make frames be treated as fragment zero Keymap reload Keymap reloads now require root Architecture Updates Alpha o Fix fbcon, matroxfb and pm2fb for Alpha o Fix iovec overrun emulation for OSF o Fix lmc and dmfe build problems on Alpha o Remove an escaped debug message o Various small platform fixes i386 o Add knowledge of WinChip C6 buggy TSC o CPU identification code knows about the Transmeta processors o Handle Athlon cache size reporting errata o List extra Athlon CPU flags o Machine Check Exception handler added o Save db6 correctly on debug traps o SMM driver for Toshiba laptops o Typo fix on oops reporting MIPS No changes PowerPC PPC should now be back in line between the main tree and the PPC distribution save for USB. o ATI video fixes o Fix zImage for chrp platforms o Numerous small fixes S/390 Some updates have been merged but not yet all. S/390 is not functional out of the box on 2.2.17. Sparc o Fix eepro100 on sparc o Fix lockd ioctl translation o Fix problems with SABRE o Fix signal handling problems o Fix sparc power handling bug o Fix symbios scsi on sparc o Fix string concatentation in sparc includes o Fix TLB multi-match bugs on sparc64 Core Updates CDROM Fixes for CDROMPLAYTRKIND and rpc2 region info queries. Other fixes for some CDROM problems. IDE Fix the multiple ide directories in /proc bug Iovecs Handle iovec overruns as per BSD behaviour. SCSI core Hopefully fix the initrd unload problem SCSI generic Fix panic with some cards SCSI tape Various bugs fixed VM subsystem Fix I/O slowdown. Improve overall performance. Fix early 'no free pages' problem. Driver Updates 3c59x driver Add support for the 3c556, fix various bugs 3Ware IDE Raid A new version of the driver is included Adaptec 29xx The aic7xxx driver has been updated. EISA/VLB card problems should be fixed too. ALi 5451 audio Added support for the midi port on this chipset AT1700 Small fixes Baycom Several cleanups Bonding Fix several crash cases on unload/setup with the bonding driver BTTV TV card Support multiple norms CS4280/CS46xx A driver for most CS4280 and CS46xx cards has been added. CS4281 A driver for the Crystal CS4281 sound chip has been added. Cyclades Serial Small driver updates DAC960 driver A new release of the DAC960 driver has been incorporated DE4X5 Fix problems with 100Mbit full duplex Doubletalk Fix select handling bugs EEpro Several fixes applied EEpro100 Use I/O mode not MMIO for now EMU0K Merge an initial driver for the emu10k chip (SBLive! and friends) ES1370 Fix a bug in GETOSPACE ES1371 Add support for revision 8 boards. Fix a bug in GETOSPACE ESS 1879 Fix incorrect sound on some setups ESS Solo Start card with mic input turned down to avoid feedback Etherworks 3 Added support for byte counters HDLC driver This has been updated to the latest code I2O Fix scsi crash on boot problem, block scan for multiple drives, better boot volume handling. IMM/PPA Zip driver Fix problems with PCI interfaces Initio SCSI Fix crash on unload problems IP2 Serial Fix config ioctl bug IXJ Telephony Resynchronized withthe vendor driver releases Intel i810 audio Several API and other fixes have been made. The high CPU usage problem with xmms has been fixed. Lanmedia Fix serveral driver problems and update driver MD software raid Fixed the problems in 2.2.16 with block size errors PC300 A driver for the Cyclades PC300 has been added PS/2 mouse Lockup on reconnect of a mouse on an SMP box is fixed QlogicFC Driver updates and bug fixes RIO serial Bring in line with 2.4 driver Smart2 RAID Added another card to the known boards, minor fixes SX Serial Fixed DTR on close bug. Bring in line with 2.4 driver Synclink Driver updates Thunderlan Driver updates Yamaha PCI audio Fix problems when it is compiled in. File System Updates AFFS Small fixes Atari Partition Probe Perform atari probe last to avoid false positives CODA General updates to the CODA interface code Ext2 Set file types on sockets. Fix typo in error message. FAT Fix a problem with FATfs on CD-ROM ISOfs Fix off by one error on some CD reading. Fix 2K alignment bug. NCPfs Fix handling of 16bit characters NFS Fixed a race in the NFS code that would report the cache already locked. Don't listen for TCP on the lockd port. NTfs Fix some problems. Stop it trying to handle Win2K. SMBfs General cleanup. Fix rename on OS/2. UMSDOS Most UMSDOS problems are now believed fixed Miscellaneous Updates bitops The bit operations on some platforms did not work for all cases Memory leaks Several obscure memory leaks on error paths of drivers have been fixed VA rename VA Research became VA Linux Vger.kernel.org The main kernel mailing lists moved. This is reflected in the documentation for 2.2.17 Warnings A general effort to remove some of the warnings from the code Network Updates Appletalk Improve the handling of AARP when an address gets reused by another node. Fix other small appletalk bugs. IRDA Fix problems in the parameter parser. Fix memory leak. IRIX food fight Fixed a problem that caused Linux and Irix boxes to occasionally get into food fights with FIN frames Masquerading Document new ipmasqadm tool locations PPP Some obscure oops cases have been fixed Race A race between device unloading and packet dequeueing has been fixed Sockets A potential situation where incorrect errors were set on sockets has been fied. TCP Fix some hangs and crashes under very high VM load. Fix some other problems with very busy sites