7 ms·

Linux kernel RNG enhancements for 5.19

121 points by zx2c4 4y ago

marcodiego 4y ago
If MGLRU is merged, 5.19 will be a landmark as probably one of the most improved kernels in history.
- hamandcheese 4y ago
  What other notable improvements are there?
  - marcodiego 4y ago
    https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-KVM-Xen https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-exFAT-EROFS-EXT4 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-Networking https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-PM-ACPI-Thermal https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-DRM-Driver-Updates https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Btrfs-Linux-5.19-Changes https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Btrfs-Li... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-IFS-Lands-Linux-5.19 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-IF... But MGLRU alone is impactful enough to finally fix a multi-decade desktop limitation, so I don't even care about other changes.
    - cpeterso 4y ago
      For people who don’t know what MGLRU (Multi-Generation Least Recently Used) page cache algorithm is: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MGLRU-v11-Linux-Perf https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MGLRU-v1... > There are wins reported for Cassandra, Hadooop, MySQL/MariaDB, Memcached, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, and improving the behavior in general for systems with limited RAM capacities or a lot of memory intense activities. > MGLRU is already shipping with Google Android devices and also patched into Google's Chrome OS kernel.
      - infinet 4y ago
        It is very exciting. Sounds like other filesystems under Linux now get zfs Adaptive Replacement Cache for free.
      - magicalhippo 4y ago
        That page didn't really explain MGLRU, at least to me. These pages however helped a lot: https://lwn.net/Articles/856931/ https://lwn.net/Articles/856931/ https://lwn.net/Articles/894859/ https://lwn.net/Articles/894859/ An aspect I found interesting was that, in addition to the LRU aspect, it includes a PID controller to try to learn or compensate for its mistakes.
    - ksec 4y ago
      Will they bump the version number to 6?
      - 5e92cb50239222b 4y ago
        Why would they? Linus changes version numbers on a whim, he stated that multiple times. Partly to make it obvious that all kernel releases are equal, partly for no reason at all.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
izietto 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- zx2c4 4y ago
  I'll spare ya the trouble. - Unrolled tweets: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528494394604761094.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528494394604761094.html - The merge commit: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ac2ab99072cce553c78f326ea22d72856f570d88 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin... - Some discussion: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YmlMGx6+uigkGiZ0@zx2c4.com/ https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YmlMGx6+uigkGiZ0@zx2c4.com/ - The commit from that discussion: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/commit?id=e85c0fc1d94c52483a603651748d4c76d6aa1c6b https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.... - Source code: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/tree/drivers/char/random.c https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.... - More commits: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/log/drivers/char/random.c https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random....
- pvg 4y ago
  OT It is. Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—things like article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mnd999 4y ago
  In this case it’s particularly dumb since they could have linked to the LKML post which is far better.
  - tux1968 4y ago
    https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/5/22/314 https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/5/22/314 That was very well written for sure. If only all projects had merge commits with so much useful info!
loudmax 4y ago
The submitter is Jason Donenfeld, aka zx2c4, creator of Wireguard (and the `pass` password manager). This is an impressive record.
midislack 4y ago
I don't like it when people touch the RNG and I think Wireguard glows.
- ratsmack 4y ago
  Anything that involves cryptography has to remain suspect.
  - ngcc_hk 4y ago
    Yes, ultimately as there is no perfect and never break system. But pushing that is pointless as we need to have a safeguard now. What should it be? We can't wait for the God or Godet to come. We need a human solution. And that might be faulty. Still, 5k lines are better than ...
    - midislack 4y ago
      It was working well before. And the Linux kernel has a history of highly pozzed, insecure RNG's that were given to the community by cryptographic "experts" as well.
      - tptacek 4y ago
        It famously was not working well before, and no such "history" exists.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- brobinson 4y ago
  Wireguard is probably the part of the kernel I trust _the most_ since it's < 5,000 lines of code and easily audited. I don't think the alphabet boys are involved in this one.
  - midislack 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

121 points by zx2c4 4y ago

marcodiego 4y ago

If MGLRU is merged, 5.19 will be a landmark as probably one of the most improved kernels in history.

hamandcheese 4y ago
What other notable improvements are there?
- marcodiego 4y ago
  https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-KVM-Xen https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-exFAT-EROFS-EXT4 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-Networking https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-PM-ACPI-Thermal https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.19-DRM-Driver-Updates https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Btrfs-Linux-5.19-Changes https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Btrfs-Li... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-IFS-Lands-Linux-5.19 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-IF... But MGLRU alone is impactful enough to finally fix a multi-decade desktop limitation, so I don't even care about other changes.
  - cpeterso 4y ago
    For people who don’t know what MGLRU (Multi-Generation Least Recently Used) page cache algorithm is: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MGLRU-v11-Linux-Perf https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MGLRU-v1... > There are wins reported for Cassandra, Hadooop, MySQL/MariaDB, Memcached, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, and improving the behavior in general for systems with limited RAM capacities or a lot of memory intense activities. > MGLRU is already shipping with Google Android devices and also patched into Google's Chrome OS kernel.
    - infinet 4y ago
      It is very exciting. Sounds like other filesystems under Linux now get zfs Adaptive Replacement Cache for free.
    - magicalhippo 4y ago
      That page didn't really explain MGLRU, at least to me. These pages however helped a lot: https://lwn.net/Articles/856931/ https://lwn.net/Articles/856931/ https://lwn.net/Articles/894859/ https://lwn.net/Articles/894859/ An aspect I found interesting was that, in addition to the LRU aspect, it includes a PID controller to try to learn or compensate for its mistakes.
  - ksec 4y ago
    Will they bump the version number to 6?
    - 5e92cb50239222b 4y ago
      Why would they? Linus changes version numbers on a whim, he stated that multiple times. Partly to make it obvious that all kernel releases are equal, partly for no reason at all.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

izietto 4y ago

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
zx2c4 4y ago
I'll spare ya the trouble. - Unrolled tweets: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528494394604761094.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1528494394604761094.html - The merge commit: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=ac2ab99072cce553c78f326ea22d72856f570d88 https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/lin... - Some discussion: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YmlMGx6+uigkGiZ0@zx2c4.com/ https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/YmlMGx6+uigkGiZ0@zx2c4.com/ - The commit from that discussion: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/commit?id=e85c0fc1d94c52483a603651748d4c76d6aa1c6b https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.... - Source code: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/tree/drivers/char/random.c https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.... - More commits: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random.git/log/drivers/char/random.c https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/crng/random....
pvg 4y ago
OT It is. Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—things like article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
mnd999 4y ago
In this case it’s particularly dumb since they could have linked to the LKML post which is far better.
- tux1968 4y ago
  https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/5/22/314 https://lkml.org/lkml/2022/5/22/314 That was very well written for sure. If only all projects had merge commits with so much useful info!

loudmax 4y ago

The submitter is Jason Donenfeld, aka zx2c4, creator of Wireguard (and the `pass` password manager). This is an impressive record.

midislack 4y ago

I don't like it when people touch the RNG and I think Wireguard glows.

ratsmack 4y ago
Anything that involves cryptography has to remain suspect.
- ngcc_hk 4y ago
  Yes, ultimately as there is no perfect and never break system. But pushing that is pointless as we need to have a safeguard now. What should it be? We can't wait for the God or Godet to come. We need a human solution. And that might be faulty. Still, 5k lines are better than ...
  - midislack 4y ago
    It was working well before. And the Linux kernel has a history of highly pozzed, insecure RNG's that were given to the community by cryptographic "experts" as well.
    - tptacek 4y ago
      It famously was not working well before, and no such "history" exists.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
brobinson 4y ago
Wireguard is probably the part of the kernel I trust _the most_ since it's < 5,000 lines of code and easily audited. I don't think the alphabet boys are involved in this one.
- midislack 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]