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It's The Superman Kernel |
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Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 02:25 PM EST
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With the release of 2.6 kernel, Joseph Pranevich has updated his wonderful article, "The Wonderful World of Linux 2.6", which details all the new features. This is the Superman kernel. It's the kernel that can get very, very small for a PDA or scale to the enterprise heights. As you read over the new features, perhaps you will form the same impression I did: nobody seems intimidated by SCO. This is truly an enterprise kernel, scaling up, up and away. Internet Week quotes Linus: "'With the new kernel, I think we're getting closer to Linux for everyone,' Torvalds said Thursday. 'I think this is the best yet and I had a lot of fun working on it,' he said in a statement." Ah, dear Linus. Beating the proprietary types is a byproduct. He's having fun.
This is a kernel business folks will love. Streamlined and improved SMP, improved support for 64-bit computing, hyperthreading, performance improvements for database applications, full support for the XFS filesystem, and new support for NUMA servers, which the article explains means this: "NUMA (or "Non-Uniform Memory Access") is a step beyond SMP in the multi-processing world and is a major leap forward for efficiency on systems that have many processors. Current multiprocessing systems were designed with many of the same limitations as their uniprocessor counterparts, especially as only a single pool of memory is expected to serve all processors. On a many-processor system, there is a major performance bottleneck due to the extremely high contention rate between the multiple cpus onto the single memory bus. NUMA servers get around that difficulty by introducing the concept that, for a specific processor, some memory is closer than others." That's not all this new kernel can do. Look at this paragraph: "In addition to just supporting new hardware features, internal limits have been also increased when possible. For example, the number of unique users and groups on a Linux system has been bumped from 65,000 to over 4 billion. (16-bit to 32-bit), making Linux more practical on large file and authentication servers. Similarly, The number of PIDs (Process IDs) before wraparound has been bumped up from 32,000 to 1 billion, improving application starting performance on very busy or very long-lived systems. Although the maximum number of open files has not been increased, Linux with the 2.6 kernel will no longer require you to set what the limit is in advance; this number will self-scale. 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 16TB on common hardware." It's also faster, for desktop users too, and has better support for laptops and plugin devices like Firewire and USB devices and enhanced Plug and Play functionality. Touch screens are now supported. Audio is now "completely thread and SMP-safe" and the kernel has built-in support for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) hardware. Here is something nice for Novell: "Although not as commonly seen today, Linux has not completely forgotten about the Novell NetWare users. Linux 2.6 now allows Linux clients to mount up to the maximum of 256 shares on a single NetWare volume using its built in NCP ('NetWare Core Protocol') filesystem driver." The new kernel also supports the Tieman Voyager braille TTY device for blind users of Linux. As the article puts it, "Like previous releases, the new additions to Linux 2.6 demonstrate the importance of playing well with others and reinforces Linux's position as a 'Swiss Army Knife' operating system." This information about new file systems is interesting too: "Linux 2.6 also includes improved support for the relatively new domain of distributed network filesystems, systems where files on a single logical volume can be scattered across multiple nodes. In addition to the CODA filesystem introduced in Linux 2.4, Linux now includes some support for two other distributed filesystems: AFS and InterMezzo. AFS, the Andrew filesystem (so named because it was originally developed at CMU), is presently very limited and restricted to read-only operations. (A more feature complete version of AFS is available outside the kernel-proper.) The second newly supported filesystem, InterMezzo (also developed at CMU), is also newly supported under Linux 2.6 and it allows for more advanced features such as disconnect operation (so you work on locally cached files) and is suitable for high-availability applications where you need to guarantee that storage is never unavailable (or faked, when down). It also has applications for keeping data in sync between multiple computers, such as a laptop or PDA and a desktop computer. Many of the projects providing support for these new types of filesystems are initially developed on Linux, putting Linux well ahead of the curve in support for these new features." At this point, it might be easier to ask: is there anything this kernel can't do? I'm sure it would be a shorter list. There are many more intriguing details in the article. Of all the new features, here's my personal favorite, the security-related changes: "Most fundamentally, the entirety of kernel-based security (powers of the super user under a UNIX-like operating system) has been modularized out to be one out of a potential number of alternate security modules. (At present however, the only offered security model is the default one and an example how to make your own.) As part of this change, all parts of the kernel have now been updated to use "capabilities" as the basis of fine-grained user access, rather than the old "superuser" system. Nearly all Linux systems will continue to have a "root" account which has complete access, but this allows for a Linux-like system to be created which does not have this underlying assumption. Another security-related change is that binary modules (for example, drivers shipped by a hardware manufacturer) can no longer "overload" system calls with their own and can no longer see and modify the system call table. This significantly restricts the amount of access that non-open source modules can do in the kernel and possibly closes some legal loopholes around the GPL. The final change that is somewhat security-related is that Linux with the new kernel is now able to use hardware random number generators (such as those present in some new processors), rather than relying on a (admittedly quite good) entropy pool based on random hardware fluctuations." Just think what this means for a business that needs security, like HIPAA entities, for example. DRM restricts everyone and requires even the author to give up privacy. Here you have security without blockages and that kind of annoyance. Hint to Microsoft: you may wish to try to keep up with Linux on security. Otherwise, you will be losing a lot of business, I fear. And as for SCO, for those of us, including me, who wondered if the SCO threats would have any impact, the answer is in: Linux just keeps developing onward and upward, leaping over buildings in a single bound. Note that the Linux Kernel Archives page has this advice if you are new to Linux: "New to Linux?
"If you're new to Linux, you don't want to download the kernel, which
is just a component in a working Linux system. Instead, you want what
is called a distribution of Linux, which is a complete Linux
system. There are numerous distributions available for download on
the Internet as well as for purchase from various vendors; some are
general-purpose, and some are optimized for specific uses.
We currently have mirrors of the
Debian and
RedHat
general-purpose distributions available at
mirrors.kernel.org,
as well as a small collection of special-purpose distributions at
http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/.
Note, however, that most distributions are very large, so unless you
have a very fast Internet link you may want to save yourself some hassle
and purchase a CD-ROM with a distribution; such CD-ROMs are available
from a number of vendors." Eric Raymond has a Linux Installation How To here. And last but not least, here is the list of some folks we can say thank you to. Of course, patches for bugs are already being worked on, as the story continues. ComputerWorld quotes what it finds to be a cryptic statement from Linus: "The beaver is out of detox." Anybody here find that hard to decode? This is just the internal, silly name of this version of the kernel. Nothing cryptic there. According to ITWorld Microsoft is rearranging itself, creating a new central engineering division to work on the core of the Windows operating system: "To a certain extent, Microsoft's decision to form a division focused on the OS core was driven by its main rival, Linux, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, a consulting firm specializing on emerging technologies, in San Jose, California.
"'They have been studying Linux extensively. Part of their study has been on how Linux has been able to maintain a high level of consistency in the kernel while groups around it maintain maximum flexibility,' Enderle said."
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Authored by: pfusco on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 02:54 PM EST |
All I can say is "wow", this is a big time step for linux and I must say the
future looks quite bright. And while not meaning to rain on the parade here...
How can SCO possibly say they "own" this.
My thanks and my appreciation to
all the kernal developers and most of all to Linus Torvalds for bringing Linux
to the world.
Ive tried many different flavors of linux, from SuSe to Red
Hat. And now on the advice of a good friend Im going to be giving Gentoo a go
lol. I do this because (to paraphrase a line from the Pokemon song) "Gotta try
em all!!!"
--- only the soul matters in the end [ Reply to This | # ]
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- How can SCO Group claim... - Authored by: the_flatlander on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:04 PM EST
- The Superman Distro - Authored by: iZm on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:05 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:37 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: mortenalver on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:47 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: tcranbrook on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:52 PM EST
- Really? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:24 PM EST
- Really? - Authored by: midav on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:54 PM EST
- Really? - Authored by: iZm on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:58 PM EST
- Really? - Authored by: CPD on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:01 PM EST
- Really? Sort Of. - Authored by: Nathan Hand on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:05 PM EST
- Yes, Really! - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:05 PM EST
- Thanks folks... - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:36 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: midav on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:35 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: iZm on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:59 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: midav on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:11 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: Glenn on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:06 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: Nathan Hand on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:49 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: PJ on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:11 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: midav on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:25 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: tgnb on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 07:40 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, December 19 2003 @ 01:41 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: WhiteFang on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:51 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: iZm on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:12 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: tgnb on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 07:42 PM EST
- Distrowatch - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:33 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 06:23 PM EST
- Gentoo? - Authored by: D. on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 08:24 PM EST
- Try Libranet - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 11:57 PM EST
- Being picky about 64 bit support - Authored by: Jack Hughes on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:06 PM EST
- The Superman Kernel - Authored by: Glenn on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:00 PM EST
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Authored by: Jude on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:15 PM EST |
There's a note about the 2.6 Kernel on Good Morning Silicon Valley
at:
Link
And guess what: A note I sent to the author
about Blake Stowell's sneaky "closed court" BS is on the same page.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: roadwarrior on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:21 PM EST |
<i>For example, the number of unique users and groups on a Linux system
has been bumped from 65,000 to over 4 billion. (16-bit to 32-bit)</i>
Linux has just gone from being able to support enough users for a very large
company to being able to support the entire population of China. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: bruzie on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:25 PM EST |
The phrase "Beaver out of detox" is just Linus' internal code name
for the 2.6.0 kernel. The two previous 2.6 kernels (2.6.0-test10 and
2.6.0-test11) were called "Stoned Beaver" and "Beaver In
Detox", respectively.
They're just terms Linus uses and is no way meant for general public
consumption outside of the Linux Kernel Mailing List, but everyone listens to
what Linus has to say anyway :)[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:26 PM EST |
The "beaver out of the box" quote is in reference to the release
names of the kernel. One of the 2.6 test releases was called "stoned
beaver". The one after it was "beaver in recovery".
lol[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:28 PM EST |
For those who want to know what Linus is refering to in the phrase the beaver is
out of detox.
"stoned beaver" was the original name for the kernel
After some comments about inaapropriate name, Linus changed the name to
"Beaver in Detox", aka linux-2.6.0-test11.
And now for the official release its "The beaver is out of detox"[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: trox on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:29 PM EST |
I've been using the new kernel since they started the test series and had 2.6.0
up and running on a P4 2.0ghz and dual Athlon-mp at 2.0ghz, before 6:00AM
Pacific. I can attest for the stability and speed. I've had very few core dumps
and large apps load alot faster.
Warning!!! If you do not know how to
administer a Linux system do not download and install, wait for your favorite
distro to get it. It changes some major stuff in the Kernel->GNU/Linux
relationship. nuf said.
If you do know how "read first" before your first
install.
Thanks Linus and kernel dev community, Great job!!!
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: lpletch on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:34 PM EST |
This goes back in the LKML a ways. I remembered seeing something about a pre
release called Beaver in Detox.
I looked in they archives and found a
previous post from Linus. Beaver in
Detox! [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:41 PM EST |
While I don't wish to denigrate the efforts of the team
or put off tech-savvy
Groklaw readers I would suggest
reading Andrew Morton's comments before trying
it on your
own system [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: emebit on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:42 PM EST |
ComputerWorld quotes what it finds to be a cryptic statement from
Linus:
Anybody here find that
hard to decode?
For those who are wondering, "Beaver in Detox!" like
the recent "stoned beaver" and from the early days
of linux-2.4, "greased
weasel" are just silly names Linus gave some
of the releases. For a bit more
info check out these postings.
http://ww
w.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0311.3/0627.html
and
http://ww
w.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0010.3/1225.html.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Philip Stephens on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:46 PM EST |
I wonder how long it will take for SCO to issue a press release complaining that
Linux 2.6 stole all of their IP in order to achieve it's greatness: "See,
Linux has improved SMP, NUMA and 64-bit support, that proves it has our code
inside of it".[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: dodger on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 03:54 PM EST |
SCOX stock is 'soaring'. Either they think that they own this 'super' kernel
OR the market makers are having a field day driving the price of the stock up as
a scam.
Or is it that Boies under investigation is proof that he has knowledge of the
'dark' side of the law and that therefore he is indeed the 'perfect' partner
for the likes of McBride and Co.
Take heart. The volume is so low with this stock, that the moment the RATS have
to ABANDON ship, there will not be a big enough market for them to get out at
these high price levels.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: NZheretic on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:19 PM EST |
As of 4 Aug 2003, Linus's linux-2.5 bk
tree boots on the IA-64.
The 2.5 develeopment branch, now stable and
renumbered 2.6.0, includes patches and GPL licensed contibutions from the Linux Scalability Effort and The
IA-64 Linux Project which concentrated on the Linux Itanium port.
Though
both projects, many Old SCO and Caldera employees directly contributed to the
development of enterprise scale Linux, before,
during and after Caldera made it's purchase of SCO's Unix division.
On the
same webpage you even have the then CEO of Caldera ( AKA now The SCO Group ) Ransom Love boasting that "clearly we are going to
add components back to the Linux kernel on both IA-32 and IA-64 platforms."
and that IBM "have similar interests and so this is really a very
synergistic, uh, this transaction is great for all of the major partners as they
have already wanted to embrace Linux moving forward..
IANAL but IMO,
this one
audio quote from the then CEO of Caldera abolutely kills the SCO Groups
case against IBM and all end users of the 2.6.0 Linux kernels.
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: CPD on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:24 PM EST |
I'm a Gentoo user and it is definitely a fun Distro. However, it definitely is
not without it's drawbacks. The system is designed to work from the source
almost in its entirety, so there can be a lot of downloading and compiling. This
can be slow - I wouldn't recommend a phase 1 Gentoo install on a 486, it would
take forever. Also, Gentoo ends up leaving a lot of sources on your machine, so
unless you have at least 20 gig of space (and preferably 30 or more - much more)
you may want to steer clear or at least learn more about what can be deleted
than I have.
On the plus side, the Gentoo project tracks software vulnerabilities and updates
so that you can keep fairly current and safe with minimal effort. It is also
supposed to give optimum performance for your system, but this doesn't seems to
be a great edge, judging from objective 3rd party measurements.
I personally wouldn't recommend Gentoo to someone in your position - get
comfortable with Linux and your chosen desktop environment first, then consider
Gentoo for your next install.
Colin
(I'll probably be migrating to 2.6 just to get SATA so that I can buy a large
enough hard drive within my price range to do all the playing around that I want
to do, which I might not have had to do with Redhat, Mandrake, Slack etc.)
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 04:55 PM EST |
More bad news
coverage for SCO:
[...] eWEEK Labs recommends that companies not
countenance SCO's demands. Before you buy a license for something, it makes
sense to ask what it is you're paying for, and SCO has not done much to prove or
even clearly delineate its claims. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: cfitch on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:00 PM EST |
... and "reported a net operating profit of $1.5 million, compared to a net
operating profit of $240,000 in the prior quarter."
Red Hat reports jump
in 3rd qtr profit, revenue
[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: TerryL on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:14 PM EST |
Hmmm, I guess Americans would think of the "Superman Kernel",
personally I think it sounds more like the "TARDIS Kernel" - there a
lot more inside than the outside appearance suggests...[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: irieiam on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:15 PM EST |
Compiling right now... hmmmm... new kernel...
---
-irieiam
The first requisite of Freedom is choice. The second would have to be
availability of information. Something bless the internet...please.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: jog on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 05:32 PM EST |
All of these Distros are here at Ibiblio in ftp or http. [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: salimf on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 07:19 PM EST |
Gentoo is for Linux pros. Gentoo is for newbies. Gentoo is for people who want
to know more about how computers do their thing. Gento is for everybody...
If you have a fast enough computer, the will to learn and can allow your self to
make a few mistakes when you get started then Gentoo will be your friend.
---
---
Sal[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 07:54 PM EST |
Keep in mind, although it's a landmark, it's not the most stable thing in the
world. It still has a lot of issues, is largely untested (compared to 2.4), and
a lot of things are still broken. Distro's would be unwise to jump into pushing
2.6 because it's not ready for anything other than test environments.[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: toolboxnz on Thursday, December 18 2003 @ 11:29 PM EST |
When Microsoft say "They have been studying Linux extensively" it
kinda makes you wonder if any/how much GPL code is in Windows...[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: valdis on Friday, December 19 2003 @ 01:33 AM EST |
Most fundamentally, the entirety of kernel-based security (powers
of the super user under a UNIX-like operating system) has been modularized out
to be one out of a potential number of alternate security modules. (At present
however, the only offered security model is the default one and an example how
to make your own.)
Well... No.
It's currently shipping with
the default security model, an example of how to make your own, and the
kernel portion of the SELinux model from
the NSA, which seriously rocks.
Incidentally, the discussion of the
kernel splitting out the old 'superuser' concept in favor of capabilities is
technically correct, but somewhat misleading. Yes, capabilities are there.
What's still lacking is the ability to create a set-capability program analogous
to a set-UID program. It turns out that it's harder than it looks to do it
right. The problem is that it's possible that a program that's given a
capability is invoked by a person/program who has more access than the
program, at which point you need to be very careful - there's three
sets of capabilities in play at any given time - the actual set in effect, the
permitted set the program can ask for, and the inheritable set that the
program's children start off with.
You have to make sure that the program
doesn't get too many permissions - but at the same time, there are known
security issues with letting programs start with less permissions than
they were expecting to have.
It certainly doesn't help that the the original
Posix 1003.3e 'capabilities' draft is demonstrably totally broken in its
specification of how to handle this case.... [ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: brian on Friday, December 19 2003 @ 05:29 AM EST |
Mandrake Cooker (the development branch of Mandrake Linux)
has the newly released kernel as well. Information on
cooker can be found here:
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/cookerdevel.php3
Keep in mind that cooker is development and it changes
frequently.
Most assuridly the next version of Mandrake will have not
only that kernel but xfree86 V 4.4 and KDE 3.2 as well as
the latest Gnome (since I don't use Gnome I am not sure
what version that would be).
B.
---
#ifndef IANAL
#define IANAL
#endif[ Reply to This | # ]
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Authored by: jaydee on Friday, December 19 2003 @ 08:18 AM EST |
Noticed this in an eweek article
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1417846,00.asp
As expected, there was one company that didn't see much importance in the new
features found in Linux 2.6. The SCO Group director of public relations, Blake
Stowell, stated, "To our knowledge, 2.6 builds upon the intellectual
property violations that continue to be in 2.4. JFS, NUMA, XFS, RCU, and a host
of other code violations have not been removed. SCO's position remains
unchanged."
[ Reply to This | # ]
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