Linux kernel 5.6 - what to expect in the new version

The release of Linux kernel 5.6 is scheduled for the end of March. In today's article, we discuss the upcoming changes - a new file system, the WireGuard protocol, and driver updates.

Photo - lucas huffman - Unsplash

The long-awaited VPN protocol

David Miller, who is responsible for the Linux networking subsystem, decided to include WireGuard in the kernel. This is a VPN tunnel developed by the cybersecurity company Edge Security. The idea was discussed two years ago - at that time it was supported by Linus Torvalds himself - however, the implementation was postponed. The project was heavily tied to the cryptographic features of Edge Security. However, six months ago, the authors of the new protocol reached a compromise and switched to the Crypto API supported by the kernel.

There is an opinion, that in the future WireGuard could replace OpenVPN. According to tests, the throughput of the new protocol is four times higher than that of OpenVPN: 1011 Mbit/s compared to 258 Mbit/s. However, it should be noted that switching to the native Crypto API may worsen performance.

Another feature of WireGuard is that it does not drop the connection, even if the user gets a new IP address, and autonomously resolves routing issues. For this purpose, each network interface is tied to a private key. It is generated using the Diffie-Hellman protocol. The encryption itself is based on ChaCha20 and the algorithm Poly1305.. They are considered improved alternatives to AES-256-CTR and HMAC..

The new file system

This system is called Zonefs, presented by engineers from Western Digital. It is designed to work with zoned storage devices (zoned storage). These are block drives whose address space is divided into zones (for example, NVMe SSDs). The file system allows processing each zone as a file - meaning using special APIs instead of ioctl to access the storage system. A similar approach is used in the RocksDB and LevelDB databases. It enables reducing the costs of migrating code initially designed to work with files.

Linux already has a function to interact with block devices. In kernel version 4.13 the dm-zoned module appeared. It presents a zoned storage as a regular block device, and Zonefs will be an alternative.

Photo - Suzan Kiršić - Unsplash

In addition to implementing the new file system, the Linux kernel developers made changes to existing ones. They were added compression mechanisms LZO/LZ4 for F2FS — support will remain experimental for now. It will need to be enabled manually during the partition mount (option compress_algorithm). The upgrade will receive EXT4 — it is associated with direct input/output operations. The update package was presented by IBM engineer Ritesh Harjan. According to him, in some cases the patch may boost filesystem performance by 140%.

Driver updates

A new driver will appear in the kernel cpuidle_cooling. Its task — to cool the CPU/SoC by embedding idle cycles during operation. In a way, it is similar to the PowerClamp driver for Intel processors, but it is not tied to a specific architecture. The system was released by specialists from Linaro, who focus on optimizing open-source software for ARM platforms.

Also support for GeForce 20 (TU10x) series graphics cards will be added. The corresponding driver was developed by Ben Skeggs from the Nouveau project. Unfortunately, GeForce 16 (TU11x) will remain "on the sidelines" for now. Nvidia has not provided the firmware images needed to initialize the card. Additionally, new graphics cards may encounter performance issues under Linux due to the lack of reclocking — automatic frequency management. In the past, it was found that Nouveau drivers can function 20–30% slower than the originals. Andrew Abbate

Photo - The new kernel - Unsplash

will support USB4. The relevant changes were offered by engineers from Intel. They modified the existing codebase related to Thunderbolt — around two thousand lines. Of course, these are not all updates coming to the kernel — for example,

one can expect support for additional peripherals and network devices. Moreover, kernel 5.6 will be the first 32-bit kernel where the 2038 problem will be addressed . At the end of January, engineersmade final changes to nfsd, xfs, alsa, and v4l2. They hope that in the eighteen years remaining, users and distribution developers will be able to transition to kernel 5.6 (or its subsequent versions). Related materials from the corporate blog 1cloud.ru:

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Source: habr.com