Linux kernel 5.15 released with new NTFS driver plus an LTS sticker slapped on it

Linus Torvalds released version 5.15 of the Linux kernel yesterday with a new NTFS driver, an SMB3 server, and an advanced memory monitor among the features. This version is considered an LTS release. Part of a heatmap generated by DAMON, new in kernel 5.15 Part of a heatmap generated by DAMON, new in kernel 5.15 Torvalds …

[Alan J. Wylie]

5.15 is an LTS release

Kernel.org Active kernel releases

[Altrux]

Re: 5.15 is an LTS release

Yep - now declared as LTS, though not an 'ultra' LTS like 5.10, so a shorter projected lifespan. I didn't think they were going to squeeze in another release before New Year! Hopefully this kernel will form the foundation of Ubuntu 22.04 and its offshoots.

[diodesign]

Re: 5.15 is an LTS release

Thanks -- we'll update the article.

C.

[Scotthva5]

Slightly confused about samba

I thought that smb was part of the kernel already but obviously I'm wrong. How is it being implemented currently?

[Alan J. Wylie]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

LWN article

[Scotthva5]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

<<tips hat

Many thanks

[Missing Semicolon]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

Well, that article was scarily informative. It turns out that my gut-feel about a kernel implementation of the basket-of-holes that is SMB is correct - it's full of security risks. I know they've fixed loads, but at this late stage, we should be down to security researchers finding esoteric corner-cases, not ordinary code-reviewers going "er, where's the tests for this case?".

Pray $DEITY there's a kernel option to turn this sucker off!

[Scotthva5]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

That was my thought as well. Performance gains at the expense of security is not a trade off I'm willing to make.

[herman]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

Eh? If you don’t like SMB, don’t use it. It is just kernel loadable modules same as any other.

[Richard 12]

Re: Slightly confused about samba

This is Linux.

If you don't want a kernel module, you don't even need to give it hard disk space, let alone actually load it.

Everything is optional. That's both the joy and the pain.