2.6.9 was released October 19, 2004. Changelog

• Token-based thrashing control. When there are pageins going on, a task can grab a token, that protects the task from pageout (except by itself) until it is no longer doing heavy pageins, or until the maximum hold time of the token is over. (LWN article) commit

• Support for POSIX's waitid(2) Also, now linux now supports the POSIX specification that SIGCHLD is sent to the parent when one of its children resumes as a consequence of receiving a SIGCONT signal. Also, WCONTINUED flag is added to waitpid() and waitid() commit

• Concurrent O_SYNC write support: In databases it is common to have multiple threads or processes performing O_SYNC writes against different parts of the same file. Performance at this is poor, because each writer blocks access to the file by waiting on I/O completion while holding i_sem: everything is serialised. The patch improves things by moving the writing and waiting outside i_sem. So other threads can get in and submit their I/O and permit the disk scheduler to optimise the IO patterns better commit, commit

• Support of disk barriers commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

• ext3 barrier support: Mount with mount -o barrier=1 to enable barriers commit

• Reiserfs v3 barrier support: Add reiserfs support for flush barriers, mount with -o barrier=flush to enable them. Barriers are triggered on fsync and for log commits commit

• Allow cluster-wide flock commit

• Out-of-line spinlocks (LWN article). commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

• Move parts of pmdisk into swsusp and remove it LWN Article. commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

• RLIMIT_MEMLOCK semantics change: In Linux kernels before 2.6.9, only privileged processes (CAP_IPC_LOCK) could lock memory, and the RLIMIT_MEMLOCK soft resource limit placed an upper limit on the number of bytes that a privileged process can lock. Since kernel 2.6.9: no limits are placed on the amount of memory that a privileged process can lock; and an unprivileged process is now able to lock memory up to the soft limit defined by RLIMIT_MEMLOC commit, commit

• New prctl(2) option allowing programs to change their name (PR_GET_NAME) commit

• Add kprobes for analysing the Linux kernel by collecting debugging information non-disruptively commit, commit

• tiny shmem/tmpfs replacement for systems without swap commit

• Add scheduler statistics in /proc/pid/stat commit

• "flex mmap" user-space memory layout, to allow applications to allocate more virtual memory, and larger contiguous chunks. (LWN article). commit, commit, commit, commit

• Tune vmalloc size with vmalloc= boot option commit

• nfsd: ACL support for the NFSv4 server commit, commit, commit

• NETFILTER: Connection based accounting commit

• NETFILTER: New ip_sctp match commit

• NETFILTER: Add conntrack runtime statistics commit

• NETFILTER: Add tcp window tracking commit

• NETFILTER: add sysctl to read out the number of current connections commit

• NET: Generic network statistics commit

• NET: Add ethtool support to loopback driver. commit

• NET: Device mtu/txqlen/ifmap via rtnetlink. commit

• NET: Device name changing via rtnetlink commit

• NET: Neighbour cache statistics like rt_stat. commit

• TCP: Add tcp_tso_win_divisor sysctl. commit

• IPV6: Add option to copy DSCP in decap in ip6_tunnel. commit

• IPV4: Permit the official ARP hw type in SIOCSARP for FDDI. commit

• NET: Generic network statistics/estimator commit

• IPSEC: Implement DSCP decapsulation commit

• BRIDGE: Add ipv6 packet filtering. commit

• TCP: Automatically compute tcp_default_win_scale and remove sysctl. commit

• PKT_SCHED: Update for netem scheduler. commit

• PKT_SCHED: Add gact generic actions. commit

• NET: Allow get/set of dev->weight via netlink. commit

• XFS: Add support for unsetting realtime flag on realtime file which has no extents allocated. commit

• XFS: Add a realtime inheritance bit for directory inodes so new files can be automatically created as realtime files. commit

• XFS: Support for default quota limits via the zero dquot (ala grace times). commit

• XFS: Add nosymlinks inode flag for the security folks, reserve projinherit flag. commit

• CIFS: xsymlink support commit

• CIFS: ipv6 support commit, commit

• Secure RPC: SPKM3 mechanism that provides for secure RPC calls by means of a gss-api mechanism based on the SPKM3 public-key mechanism

commit

• NFSv4: Support for delegations (client) commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

• JFS: disk quota support commit

• NTFS: Add support for readv/writev and aio_read/aio_write. commit

• NTFS: Implement fsync, fdatasync, and msync both for files and directories commit

• NTFS: Implement cluster (de-)allocation code commit

• export legacy pty info via sysfs commit

• RCU: low latency rcu commit

• Adds a kernel boot parameter lpj=NNN which allows the operator to specify the loops-per-jiffy value commit

• CRYPTO: Add Whirlpool digest algorithm. commit

• hugetlb: permit executable mappings commit

• md: RAID10 target commit

• Configurable SELinux bootparam value commit

• Reduce SELinux kernel memory use on 64-bit systems commit

• /dev/random: Remove RNDGETPOOL ioctl commit

• /dev/random: Use separate entropy store for /dev/urandom commit

• Show Active/Inactive on per-node meminfo. The patch below enable to display the size of Active/Inactive pages on per-node meminfo (/sys/devices/system/node/node%d/meminfo) like /proc/meminfo commit

• task scheduler profileing (seeing where context switches come from) commit

• kbuild: Add 'make namespacecheck' commit

• kbuild: Support LOCALVERSION commit

• Add skeleton "generic IO mapping" infrastructure. commit

• Tunable "max sectors" limit for block I/O requests (can help latency reduction) commit

• BSD disklabel: handle more than 8 partitions commit

• Add DEVPATH env variable to hotplug helper call commit

• Drivers & architectures

  • Add m32r architecture commit

  • x86_64: emulate NUMA on non-NUMA hardware commit

  • x86-64: add apic={verbose,quiet,debug} commit

  • Add support for NUMA discovery on AMD dual core to x86-64 commit

  • ARM: Add IXP2000 support commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

  • ARM: Add support for ENP-2611 platform commit

  • ARM: Motorola i.MX architecture support commit

  • ARM: OMAP update adds board support files for OMAP H2 and H2 commit, commit, commit, commit, commit, commit

  • ARM: Add "noirqdebug" option to match x86 option. commit

  • ARM: kernel support for iWMMXt present on some XScale cores commit

  • Add ARM AMBA CLCD framebuffer driver. commit

  • ARM: Hynix h720x architecture support commit

  • ARM: Add CLCD support for Versatile platform commit, for Integrator/CP platform commit, for IM-PD/1 board commit

  • ARM: Intel XScale IOP310 removal commit

  • ARM: S3C2410 - Drive strength control for s3c2440 commit

  • ARM: Initial support for s3c2440 cpus commit

  • ppc32: add U-Boot support to Ocotea/440GX port commit

  • ppc32: emulate obsolete instructions commit

  • PPC32: Add a watchdog driver on PPC8xx. commit

  • ppc: Add Freescale MPC52xx I2C Support using i2c-mpc.c commit

  • ppc32: Add a noresidual option, to ignore residual data. commit

  • ppc64: HVSI driver commit

  • ppc64 iSeries virtual DVD-RAM commit

  • ppc64: topdown support commit

  • ppc64: restore smt-enabled=off kernel command line option commit

  • ppc64: enable POWER5 low power mode in idle loop commit

  • ppc64: powersave_nap sysctl commit

  • SPARC64: Initial KPROBES implementation. commit

  • IA64-SGI: Add full PROM version banner to /proc/sgi_prominfo/nodeXX/version commit

  • IA64: support for IA64 hardware performance counters via the perfmon interface commit

  • IA64: SGI Altix hardware performance monitoring API commit

  • mips: added interrupt control routines for vrc4173 commit

  • Time interpolator: Scalability enhancements and high resolution time for IA64 commit

  • uml: Uml base patch commit

  • UML: remove the COW block driver commit

  • uml: remove useless ioctls commit

  • uml: Adds LEGACY_PTY config option commit

  • uml: Use PTRACE_SCEMU (the so-called SYSEMU) to reduce syscall cost. commit

  • uml: Adds the "nosysemu" command line parameter to disable SYSEMU commit

  • uml: Adds /proc/sysemu to toggle SYSEMU usage. commit

  • x86 PAE swapspace expansion commit

  • r8169: napi support commit

  • r8169: ethtool .set_settings commit

  • r8169: ethtool .get_{settings/link} commit

  • Add support of VT1720-based mobo (still experimental and supporting AC97 only) commit

  • VIA82xx: add the DXS entry for Mitac/Vobis/Yakumo laptop. commit

  • Add the experimental support for ALC850. commit

  • input: implement true rawmode for PS/2 keyboards commit, commit

  • Input: mousedev - implement tapping for touchpads working in absolute mode, such as Synaptics commit

  • via-rhine: Add WOL support commit

  • CPUFREQ: new Dothan variant for speedstep-centrino commit

  • New driver for MV64340 GigE commit

  • input: Enhancements/fixes for PSX pad support: commit

  • Intel8x0: Added the PCI ID for nVidia CK8. commit

  • input: Add Dell SB Live! PCI ID to the emu10k1-gp driver. commit

  • input: Add Audigy LS PCI ID to emu10k1-gp.c commit

  • Input: Add serio_raw driver that binds to serio ports and provides unobstructed access to the underlying serio port via a char device commit

  • EMU10K1/EMU10K2: Audigy 2 ZS - side support commit

  • add new ethernet driver 'gianfar' commit

  • Add pci=firmware command line option commit

  • PCI Hotplug: acpiphp extension commit, commit

  • ACPI: add SMP suport to processor driver commit

  • ACPI: ACPI bus support for wakeup GPE commit

  • natsemi netpoll support commit

  • ATIIXP-modem: Added snd-atiixp driver for ATI IXP AC97 modem controllers. commit

  • ICE1712: Added the (experimental) support of Terratec Phase 88. commit

  • e100 - Support for Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection (82562) adapter commit

  • e100 - Auto MDI/MDI-X support commit

  • e100 - Support to load device firmware commit

  • ICE1724: Added the support of Pontis MS300 to snd-ice1724 driver. commit

  • USB: add CONFIG_USB_SUSPEND commit

  • USB: Add support for FT2232C chip to ftdi_sio commit

  • Add CONFIG_PM_DEBUG option commit

  • I2C: Add Intel IXP2000 GPIO-based I2C adapter commit

  • I2C: new device for sis630 commit

  • Intel8x0: Added the support of nVidia CK804. commit

  • Intel8x0: Added the support of MCP04. commit

  • Intel8x0-modem: Added the support of Nvidia modem. commit

  • ICE1712: Added the support of ZNF3-250 (supposed to be ZNF3-150 compatible). commit

  • AWACS: PPC Beep,PPC PMAC driver,PPC PowerMac driver Added the PCM beep support. commit

  • CPUFREQ: Adding SMP capability to MSR based Enhanced Speedstep. commit

  • USB USX2Y: snd-usb-usx2y driver for Tascam US-122/224/428 support commit

  • Intel8x0: Added buggy_irq module parameter to intel8x0 driver. commit

  • I2C: bus driver for multiple PowerPCs commit

  • USB: ipaq module: product id for HTC Himalaya commit

  • I2C: algorithm and bus driver for PCA9564 commit

  • USB: add ub driver commit

  • w1: Added driver for Dallas' DS9490* USB <-> W1 master. commit

  • Intel8x0-modem: Add the support of SIS7013 modem. commit

  • AGPGART: SiS 635 support. commit

  • CPUFREQ: Initial Dothan speedstep support. commit

  • libata: support commands SYNCHRONIZE CACHE, VERIFY, VERIFY(16) commit

  • libata: add ioctl infrastructure commit

  • ipr: New adapter support commit

  • ipr: New PCI IDs commit

  • USB generic driver: add support for Yamaha CVP-301, CVP-303, CVP-305, CVP-307, CVP-309, CVP-309GP, PSR-1500, PSR-3000, ELS-01, ELS-01C, PSR-295, PSR-293, DGX-205, DGX-203, DGX-305, DGX-505, DGP-7, DGP-5, PM5D, DME64N, DME24N, DTX, UB99 commit

  • Add new Megaraid driver version 2.20.0.1 commit

  • CPUFREQ: Support VIA C3 Nehemiah's with 200MHz FSB. commit

  • fbdev: use 8-bit DAC for capable hardware commit

  • fbdev: support for bold attribute for monochrome framebuffers commit

  • Support for Exar XR17C158 Octal UART commit

  • Altix system controller communication driver commit

  • new device driver to enable the IBM Multiport Serial Adapter commit

  • i20 rewrite commit

  • CPUFREQ: Merge on-demand cpufreq policy governor. commit

  • USB: add lh7a40x_udc driver commit

  • USB: add omap_udc driver commit

  • VIA82xx: Added the DXS entry for Uniwill/Targa Visionary XP-210. commit

  • USB: rip out the whole pwc driver as the author wishes to have done. commit

  • ATIIXP: add IXP400 support commit

  • parport: NetMOS 9805 interface commit

  • Add new i915 driver from Tungsten Graphics Inc. This driver covers the i830 chipsets also, a new X 2D + 3D driver are needed to use this but they have been integrated into at least the X.org tree at this point and I think the XFree86 tree commit

  • TG3: Add capacitive coupling support. commit

  • VLAN support for 3c59x/3c90x commit

  • Add IXDP2x01 board support to CS89x0 driver commit

  • SUNGEM: Add NAPI support. commit

  • SUNGEM: Add netpoll support. commit

  • device driver for the SGI system clock, mmtimer commit

  • Add MTD map driver for Intel IXP2000 NPU commit

  • PCMCIA: Add device ID for TI4520 to yenta_socket table. commit

  • SUNGEM: Add polling support. commit

  • MMC Provide major= module parameter for mmc_block commit

  • ide: Simtec BAST (EB2410ITX) / Thorcom VR1000 driver commit

  • ACPI4ASUS: support M6700R laptops commit

  • USB: isp1301_omap driver (On The Go) commit