Recent Posts by Sergio Leunissen

This post was updated on June 5, 2019 to include use of Vagrant builds published on GitHubOK, not completely zero, but pretty close! If you have Oracle VM VirtualBox and Vagrant installed and would like to take Docker for a spin on Oracle Linux, you should try this. Our most recent Oracle Linux 7 Update 6 Vagrant box makes a good starting point to set up and configure Docker. It includes: Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 5 with support for Docker and Btrfs A spare virtual disk...

Every so often security bugs are found that are significant enough to get rewarded with a proper name. Sometimes even a whole web site. Remember Dirty Cow? Heartbleed? Recently a kernel bug colloquially called Stack Clash (CVE-2017-1000364) was discoveredthat can result in a local privilege escalation by overwhelming memory protections put in place to prevent programs from accessing memory they are not supposed to. The bug affects Linux Kernel versions 4.11.5 and earlier and...

This post describes the steps to install and update Java SE, including critical patch updates (CPU) on Oracle Linux via Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). Customers who have Oracle Linux support and Java SE support from Oracle have access to commercial releases of Java SE via ULN. Java: Public and Commercial Releases The Java SE release roadmap has both Public releases and Commercial releases. Public releases are available for download at these websites: Java.com and Java SE...

Vagrant is a tool to manage virtual machine-based environments. Read more about Vagrant here. Why use Vagrant? If you develop code that runs on Linux but use a MacOS or Windows machine to run your preferred browser, editor, debugger or development tools, Vagrant offers a consistent workflow to create disposable Linux environment whose configuration and dependencies are isolated from your development machine. Vagrant Boxes are pre-built base images that can be imported into...

The installation media ISO for Oracle Linux 6.3 is still "in the oven" but the RPMs are already available.  You can grab them on ULN, if you have an Oracle Linux support subscription, or anyone can get them from the Oracle Linux yum server.  Oracle Linux 6.3 includes a quarterly update of Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 (kernel-uek-2.6.39-200.9.0.el6uek).  To install that kernel, make sure you have the ol6_UEK_latest channel or repo enabled.  Enjoy.

If you run Oracle products on Oracle Linux 6 (or RHEL 6) on Intel-based hardware that supports the Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX), you may encounter illegal instruction errors (SIGILL) that prevent the correct operation of Oracle Database, Fusion Middleware and other applications (both Oracle and third party applications).  It is recommended you install this glibc bug fix update: ELBA-2012-2019.    To verify whether your system supports AVX, look for avx in the output...

ISO images of the Oracle Linux installation media as well as individual binary RPMs (and the sources) of major and minor releases (Updates) have always been freely available for download, use and distribution, ever since we started the Oracle Linux support program. We're now taking this a step further: in addition to the above, we now also provide updated packages or errata for free from separate yum repositories on the Oracle Linux yum server. If you would like to keep your...

A quick post to update you on the status of the Ksplice blog.  The first few posts are back online and more will soon follow.  Geek on!

It was 20 years ago that Linus Torvalds posted the following in the comp.os.minix newsgroup: Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)among...