A critical vulnerability (CVE-2020-7468) has been identified in the ftpd server included with FreeBSD.

Gentoo Linux Developers announced announce the availability of universal builds with the Linux kernel, created within the project Gentoo Distribution Kernel to simplify the process of maintaining the Linux kernel in the distribution. The project provides the ability to install pre-built binary packages with the kernel, as well as using a unified ebuild to compile, configure, and install the kernel using the package manager, similar to other packages.

The key differences of the proposed pre-built packages from manual kernel compilation are the ability to automatically update when installing regular system updates via the package manager (emerge --update @world) and a predefined set of default options that ensure operability after an update (when manually configuring, if the kernel fails to boot or an error occurs, it is not clear if the issue is related to incorrect parameter settings or a bug in the kernel itself).

Three packages have been created for installing the Linux kernel, which can be to install updated together with the other system packages, allowing the entire system and kernel to be updated with one command without requiring a separate kernel compilation.

• sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel — a kernel with a typical set of genpatches specific to Gentoo. The build is performed using the package manager with default settings or by specifying a custom configuration.
• sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin — pre-built binary packages of gentoo-kernel, which can be used for quick installation of the kernel without compiling it on your system.
• sys-kernel/vanilla-kernel — an ebuild with the vanilla Linux kernel, offered in the form distributed on the site kernel.org.

It is worth noting that previously, in Gentoo, the kernel was built by the user separately from the rest of the system using manual configuration. This approach allowed for fine-tuning performance, excluding unnecessary components during the build, and reducing build time and resulting kernel size. However, due to the lack of a unified set of default options, users could easily make mistakes during configuration and encounter issues with updates and portability that were difficult to diagnose.

Source: opennet.ru