this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I love this! Not only for the comedic value, but throwing kernel oopses on-screen when they can't be easily captured when unprepared would be of great help in solving system problems. Unlike the cryptic messages Windows displays, Linux kernel messages are quite useful.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Isn't this the default behavior of all(?) modern *nix init? Maybe not SysV, i don't know.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Is it? I've been on Debian/Ubuntu since 2005 and I've never seen anything on-screen whenever I've gotten a kernel oops.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

They use Systemd, so there.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Some Highlights:

  • A new component "systemd-bsod" has been added to show logged error messages full-screen if they have a "LOG_EMERG" log level. This is intended as a tool for displaying emergency log messages full-screen on boot failures. Yes, BSOD in this case short for "Blue Screen of Death". This was worked on as part of Outreachy 2023. The systemd-bsod will also display a QR code for getting more information on the error causing the boot failure.

  • Hibernation into swap files backed by Btrfs are now supported.

  • Support for split-usr has been removed.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Actually looking forward to the btrfs swapfile hibernation; I have tried setting it up on my machine before but the documentation was never clear on whether it would work (or why mine wasn't).

[–] [email protected] 46 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Seems like some kind of sacrilege.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)

i totally understand if they named it bsod just for the meme, it's funny also they could make an option to change de color :b

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (3 children)

They could have gone with the “Red Screen of Wrath” or something.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

Lilac of Log Level 1

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

The thought of someone's Linux install failing catastrophically, displaying a "MSoS", then the user switching back to the is MS OS because of it is funny to me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Crimson Screen of Grief

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

That almost sounds soothing.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Back about two decades when I was using Windows and it was till easily customisable, I changed the bsod colour to red for funsies. Windows being Windows crashed and went to my red screen of death - my ex's cousin saw it and thought it was something really really bad, "Wow, a red screen, never seen that before. Must be even worse than blue". No mate, I just customise the shit out of anything I touch 😅

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Fuchsia Screen of Disappointment

[–] snake 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Agreed, bsod is precisely what I’ve been running from with Linux.

[–] [email protected] 50 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this basically just better error reporting? It's not like it's gonna crash more often, it will just actually show log info if something catastrophic happens.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No, there is a random crash every six hours now to increase familiarity.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Unfortunately this only affects boot messages, not normal system operation, for that you still get core dumps and kernel panics / oops

[–] ikidd 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

A BSOD that gave you a clue about why it happened would be a welcome change.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

that's the goal, they also gonna implement the QR code, but not like the crappy of QR code on windows(that send you to a suppirt page with a dozen of possible sulution, where nothing work), the qr code is going translate to the kernel panic message, i liked, i can scan the qr code and search the error on my cell

[–] Krafting 37 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I just wish they would use another name for it, it's linux here no need to copy windows slang! Or use another color! (I hope they'll update it to make it a customizable color)

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago

Fun fact: The Windows BSOD colour was as easy as adding a couple of lines to a .INI file for a long time. Then, as they tend to do, they made it more difficult, but it was still possible. Third party tools were written to do the work.

Very recent MS Windows I have no idea about. My search-fu is failing me.

Anyway, my point is that the "two lines in a config file" method would be nice.

Knowing systemd though, it'll be "send some kind of message into a /proc pseudo-file", or a sub-sub-sub-command of one of the many systemd* commands which ultimately does the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Yeah, Linux should have taken the guru meditation from the Amiga! (I know VirtualBox already copied it mind you)

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (3 children)

At least make it pink or smth

[–] wmassingham 4 points 11 months ago (3 children)

PSoD is already used by VMware ESXi. And Windows Insider builds, I think.

Maybe green?

[–] ABeeinSpace 3 points 11 months ago

Green is Windows Insider builds

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Maybe a customizable setting? Black screen with red border and a looping kittens video?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

PSoD

Piss Screen of Death?

edit: oh nvm, I mistakenly thought this was in reply to the suggestion for dark yellow.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Dark yellow?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I hope this isn't going to be the default. I know, the average granny might prefer to have a BSOD with a QR code, but I think a lot of the people who are more tech-savvy, like me, would prefer to see log messages when booting because then you could see which service failed and why or why it's all of a sudden taking so long to boot. That's also why I choose not to have a splash screen when booting.

Anyways, this BSOD thing doesn't apply to me because I use Gentoo with OpenRC.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm honestly fine if this is the default for beginner distros, as long as it's easy to disable and there is still a way to get to the logs

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just let me hit ESC and see the panic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Came here to say this. Let them toggle the logs or the QR code.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (2 children)
  • Hibernation into swap files backed by Btrfs are now supported.

So, with btrfs on ssd, is there any use case for a swap partition?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (8 children)

Use case is not having enough RAM?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think what they mean is that you can just make a swap FILE instead, which you can grow and shrink as needed. No need to mess with partitioning.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yep. In fact my comment seemed so clear to me that I assumed it was some kind of joke, but looking at the votes, maybe swapfiles aren't as well known as I thought.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Do you mean that you don't have to find the LBA of the extents of your swap file, and put that into a kernel argument anymore?

Cuz that is a nasty, skanky hack.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I've never heard of that, it's beyond me. So it's an increased risk when tweaking the kernel? As an average home user it's all right?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

I don't think it's going to do a whole lot of good when the whole KMS/DRM falls over.

(okay I haven't had that for a few months now. But i am still traumatized)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Good idea, stupid name.

Excellent for causing FUD.

No, this will not increase the amount of kernel panics you see. It just makes them more informational to the average person. Technical folks can disable it, non-technical folks won't know how to enable it, so on by default it is.

[–] NeoNachtwaechter 4 points 11 months ago

I want it with Elon's face in the backgrund, so that I can throw some darts at it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Ahead of the holidays systemd 255 has debuted as stable and comes with systemd-bsod as a "Blue Screen of Death" service capable of displaying full-screen error messages on Linux.

This is intended as a tool for displaying emergency log messages full-screen on boot failures.

The systemd-bsod will also display a QR code for getting more information on the error causing the boot failure.

  • Systemd's bootctl will now show whether the system was booted from a Unified Kernel Image (UKI).

  • systemctl will now automatically soft-reboot into a new root file-system if found under /run/nextroot/ when a reboot operation is invoked.

  • A new option "SurveFinalKillSignal" has been added to skip the final SIGTERM/SIGKILL spree on shutdown in order to survive soft-reboot operation.


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