Kernel 2.7: Back to the Future of Linux

Now that the Linux 2.6 kernel has been released and is being worked into distributions, many in the open-source community are turning their attention to the next development and test kernel, known as the 2.7 tree.

To get an early glimpse at some of the thinking going into the next kernel, key vendors that aid in shaping the Linux kernel helped eWEEK last week put together a long-range wish list for 2.7.

/zimages/6/28571.gifAndrew Morton, Linus Torvalds right-hand man, shares his vision for Linux.Read the interview.

For some, additional desktop functionality would be welcome for the development kernel, which is not likely to be finalized until next year.

Wim Coekaerts, director of Linux engineering for Oracle Corp., of Redwood Shores, Calif., told eWEEK: “The 2.6 kernel is a server release, so we can expect to see a greater desktop focus, which will be beneficial to us, as more users will be able to use Linux to run their clients really well.”

On the server side, there are a lot of patches that will be merged into the 2.6 kernel or move into 2.7, Coekaerts said.

“Some basic clustering support would be nice. That is not going to get into 2.6, as theres no framework for it. Im talking about the notion of having a cluster name, clusterwide time stamps,” Coekaerts said.

/zimages/6/62638.jpgSome large enterprises have big plans for Linux. Tom Killalea, vice president of infrastructure for retailer Amazon.com Inc., of Seattle, told attendees at the LinuxWorld conference here last week that the company now plans to move its 14-terabyte-plus data warehouse to Linux servers running Oracles Real Application Clusters software by the end of next quarter, making Amazon a total enterprise Linux shop.

Amazon, which has been running Linux since 2000, has been steadily moving its infrastructure from Sun Microsystems Inc.s Unix servers to Hewlett-Packard Co. ProLiant servers running Linux. The company said in a 2001 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Linux cut its technology expenses by $16 million, or 25 percent.

Next page: A need for virtualization.

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Dan Frye, director of the IBM Linux Technology Center, in Beaverton, Ore., said he would most like to see virtualization technology in the 2.7 kernel.

“The industry is moving in this direction, and there are things we need to do in the operating system to enable virtualization,” Frye said.

Sam Greenblatt, senior vice president and chief architect of Computer Associates International Inc.s Linux Technology Group, in Islandia, N.Y., agreed about the need for virtualization technologies. “Right now, you can have multiple Linuxes virtually operating, but we would love to see that expanded so that you could power other operating systems, whether that be Unix or Windows,” Greenblatt said. Also likely to go into the 2.7 kernel is the kernel intercept module, which is being contributed by CA and allows users to see events occurring in the kernel. It allows security without being intrusive, he said.

Others, such as Dave Dargo, vice president of Oracles Linux Program Office, are less enthusiastic about the need for virtualization technology in the kernel. In fact, Dargo contends that a 2.7 wish list from each of the vendors would reflect their particular technology interests and that there will be different wishes from the different groups within those companies.

Regarding virtualization, Dargo said the need depends on the application. “If you start doing things in the Linux kernel like improving the virtualization of resources, clustering and those kinds of things, this will improve the overall experience and make it easier for companies like Oracle to deliver some technologies,” he said. “Getting, say, a cluster file system in the operating system makes it easier for us to implement things, but its not a necessity.”

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