Linux kernel 2.6.24
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| Linux kernel 2.6.24 | |
|---|---|
| Name | Linux kernel 2.6.24 |
| Released | 2008-01-24 |
| Developer | Linus Torvalds / Linux kernel developers |
| Family | Unix-like |
| Source model | Open-source |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
| License | GNU General Public License |
Linux kernel 2.6.24 Linux kernel 2.6.24 was a stable kernel release announced in January 2008 that integrated broad subsystem updates and hardware support, impacting distributions such as Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux, and Fedora. The release consolidated contributions from maintainers associated with projects like Kernel.org, The Linux Foundation, X.Org, GNU Project, and Open Source Development Labs, reflecting collaborative work influenced by figures such as Linus Torvalds, Alan Cox, Greg Kroah-Hartman, and Andrew Morton. It served as a base for downstream vendors including IBM, Intel, AMD, Oracle Corporation, and Novell to enable deployment on servers, desktops, and embedded platforms managed by organizations like Canonical (company), Red Hat, and SUSE.
Overview
2.6.24 marked a maintenance and feature integration point in the 2.6 series with emphasis on scalability, driver updates, and security hardening; maintainers coordinated through Kernel.org and communication channels such as Mailing list archives used by Linux kernel developers, Red Hat, SUSE, and Debian contributors. The tree incorporated patches from subsystem maintainers like Ingo Molnar (scheduler work), Matthew Garrett (EFI/ACPI interaction), and David Miller (networking), aligning with ecosystem efforts from X.Org Foundation, Freedesktop.org, and Open Source Initiative partners.
New features and improvements
The release introduced improvements in the scheduler and I/O stacks contributed by developers affiliated with Intel and AMD, coordinated with projects like libvirt and KVM to improve virtualization support for platforms involving VMware, Xen, and QEMU. Network stack enhancements touched components used by Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks products, while filesystem updates affected implementations relied upon by Samba, GNOME, KDE, and Apache HTTP Server deployments. Power management refinements referenced interactions with ACPI tables used on hardware from Dell, HP, and Lenovo and related firmware efforts influenced by UEFI discussions.
Hardware and architecture support
Kernel 2.6.24 expanded architecture support across x86_64, IA-32, ARM, PowerPC, MIPS, and SPARC platforms, enabling use on servers from IBM POWER systems, embedded devices by ARM Holdings partners, and routers by Cisco Systems and Netgear. New and updated drivers added compatibility for chipsets from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, and for storage controllers used by LSI Corporation and Adaptec in enterprise arrays; laptop enablement improvements benefited OEMs like Dell and HP. The release included updates to wireless drivers utilized by devices from Broadcom, Atheros, and Ralink Technology and to graphics stacks coordinating with NVIDIA, ATI Technologies, and the X.Org ecosystem.
Performance and scalability changes
Performance work in 2.6.24 targeted multicore scalability, benefiting deployments on hardware by Intel, AMD, IBM, and Oracle machines, and aimed to reduce contention for workloads typical of MySQL, PostgreSQL, Apache HTTP Server, and Nginx. Improvements in kernel locking and the scheduler drew on research and patches from contributors linked to Red Hat, Suse, and university projects such as University of Cambridge systems labs; these changes improved throughput for virtualization stacks including KVM and Xen. I/O subsystem tuning aided large-scale storage solutions used by EMC Corporation, NetApp, and HP StorageWorks arrays.
Notable drivers and subsystems
The release integrated significant updates to the networking stack maintained by David Miller affecting TCP/IP, IPv6, and Netfilter modules commonly used in products by Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, and updates to the ALSA sound subsystem used by PulseAudio, GNOME, and KDE desktops. Filesystem work included fixes for ext3, ext4 (development trees), ReiserFS, and XFS, impacting deployments by Red Hat and SUSE, and storage drivers for RAID controllers from LSI Corporation and Adaptec were updated. Graphics and DRM updates coordinated with X.Org Foundation and drivers used by NVIDIA and Intel GPUs were included, and USB and PCI subsystems received numerous vendor-supplied patches from Intel, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom.
Security fixes and vulnerabilities addressed
2.6.24 incorporated patches addressing vulnerabilities reported by researchers and organizations such as CERT Coordination Center, NCC Group, and independent security researchers; fixes targeted kernel privilege escalation, memory corruption, and race conditions exploited in subsystems used by OpenSSH, OpenSSL, and network daemons common in Apache HTTP Server and named (BIND). The release included mitigations for issues revealed in interactions with SELinux policy enforcement maintained by NSA contributors and security hygiene updates adopted by Red Hat and Debian security teams.
Release history and distribution adoption
After its release in January 2008, 2.6.24 was picked up by distributions including Ubuntu (through snapshots and backports), Debian stable/testing branches via maintainers coordinated in Debian BTS, Fedora development trees, and commercial vendors like Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for kernel stability evaluation and backporting. Long-term support and backport efforts by communities such as Canonical (company), Red Hat, and SUSE led to the kernel's features being integrated into enterprise releases and appliance images from vendors including Oracle Corporation and embedded Linux vendors collaborating with Wind River Systems.