Kernel Info by [war]
Email: <war@starband.net>
Last Updated: (08/03/2002 @ 10:05PM EST)
Note: Some information was taken from Richard Gooch's Kernel Newflash:
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rgooch/linux/docs/kernel-newsflash.html
SECURITY BULLETIN
All kernels <= 2.4.9 are vulnerable to a local root exploit via ptrace.
Simple fix: Please use kernel 2.4.10 or greater.
Alternative fix: http://coder.home.cosmic-cow.net/fm
NOTICE FOR KERNEL 2.4.15 USERS
Problem: I've booted Kernel 2.4.15, what do I do to avoid disk corruption?
Answer: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0111.2/1677.html
Confused about the patches?
 Alexander Viro's patch should be used for 2.4.15, as it is now the official patch.

Current Stable Production Kernel (2.4.x series)

2.4.19 - 1)  Possible IDE partition issues with 2.4.19, as well as other minor IDE based problems.

2.4.18 - 1)  First 2.4.18 is released, but it is actually 2.4.18-rc3, the 2.4.18-rc4 patch was dropped.
                 Then they re-released it, but the new 2.4.18 lost a chunk of the 2.4.18-rc4 patch.
                 To update to 2.4.18 final, download: ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/testing/patch-2.4.18-rc4.gz
                 Then: cd /usr/src/linux ; patch -R -p1 < ../patch-2.4.18-rc4.
                 Since 2.4.18-rc4 == 2.4.18, you are now patched to the official, real 2.4.18 release.

2.4.17 - 1) Network driver fails to build with gcc-3.1.
                Patch is availible here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/272905
            2) Deadlocks are still not fixed.
                Summary: During heavy swapping out, if user requests a large swap in, the system will become unresponsive.
                Rik Van Riel is currently working on a patch that works :).
                Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/274364
                Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/274382
            3) There are 155 bugfixes and updates with this release; please read the changelog for further details.
                Changelog: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.17
2.4.16 - 1) Kernel may stall when under heavy disk I/O.
                Details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/267366
            2) Fixes filesystem corruption bug, some PPC compiliation problems and the 8139too oops.
                Changelog: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/266211
2.4.15 - 1) Can cause filesystem corruption when unmounting a drive.
                Details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/265712
                Patch: http://lnuxlab.ath.cx/~khromy/devel/patches/2.4.15-inode.c.patch
            2) Will not compile on Sparc or PPC architectures due to show_trace_task problems.
                Details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/linux-kernel/message/265699
2.4.14 - 1) Has deactivate_page linker bug.
                Fix: Edit loop.c, and delete the deactivate_page() function calls.
2.4.13 - No known bugs.
2.4.12 - Parallel port driver broken in this release.
2.4.11 - Allows local denial of service using symlinks.
2.4.10 - SCSI partiton handling code appears to be broken
2.4.9 - 1) Compiling NTFS does not work.
              Fix: Add the line #include <linux/kernel.h> to the file linux/fs/ntfs/unistr.h and recompile.
2.4.8 - The SBLIVE! emu10k1 driver must be compiled in, it will not compile as a module.
2.4.7 - No known bugs.
2.4.6 - No known bugs.
2.4.5 - The OOM killer is triggered too early, causes excessive swapping.
2.4.4 - No known bugs
2.4.3 - Loopback driver fixed.
2.4.2 - Loopback driver still has problems.
2.4.1 - Loopback driver still has problems.
2.4.0 - Loopback driver corrupts data under some conditions.