CFT/HEADS-UP: linux 2.6.16 emulation

Hi,

today I committed the last fixes for the showstopper problems (panics)
in the linux 2.6.16 emulation. I intend to switch the default version
to 2.6.16 on i386 "soon" (see below), so please help testing it.

More recent linux distributions (e.g. FC5) require a 2.6 kernel and
don't work with 2.4.2 anymore. And because FC4 is "abandon-ware" (no
security fixes from fedoralegacy anymore), getting 2.6.16 emulation up
an running is very important.

If you use a linux program, please add compat.linux.osrelease=2.6.16
to /etc/sysctl.conf (my desktop is running with 2.6.16 emulation since
some days already). After the next boot (or after running "sysctl
compat.linux.osrelease=2.6.16", please make sure no linux program is
running already) any linux program will start with a linux kernel
version of 2.6.16 instead of 2.4.2. The default linux base port (FC4)
will then use different code paths (e.g. within glibc). In case you
want to switch back to the 2.4.2 emulation without a reboot, please
make sure no linux program is running anymore.

So far we fixed all known/repeatable problems with acroread,
realplayer, skype and linux firefox. If you encounter strange behavior
with any linux program, please tell us (emulation_at_freebsd.org) which
program you used, how to repeat the problem,  what the problem is, and
if it only is visible with 2.6.16 or with 2.4.2 too. You should also
watch out for messages in the dmesg (unimplemented system calls or other
stuff, this is used to determine the priority of missing syscalls).
Please also have a look at http://wiki.FreeBSD.org/linux-kernel, I
intend to document the known problems there. If you find your problem
there, please tell us about it if you are willing to test fixes.

We are specially interested in reports (good or bad) on SMP systems.
Please beat the hell out of the linuxulator!

On amd64 systems we have not the same functionality as on i386, missing
are futexes and TLS. In P4 we already have the futex part covered, but
the TLS part is still missing (anyone with a clue about the kernel side
of TLS on amd64 is welcome to give a hint or two to jkim_at_ and
rdivacky_at_). So if you get a message about missing futexes or TLS on
amd64: we know about it (testers for the futex stuff are welcome, but
first you need to use a program which uses futexes and complains).

As long as we get problem reports with 2.6.16 I will not switch the
default to 2.6.16. If we don't get a report at all, I will switch the
default on i386 to 2.6.16 in two weeks. If we get some problem reports,
we will push back the switch a little bit depending on the severity of
the problem.

Bye,
Alexander.

-- 
Now KEN and BARBIE are PERMANENTLY ADDICTED to MIND-ALTERING DRUGS ...
http://www.Leidinger.net  Alexander _at_ Leidinger.net: PGP ID = B0063FE7
http://www.FreeBSD.org     netchild _at_ FreeBSD.org  : PGP ID = 72077137