The Input Stack on Linux – An End-To-End Architecture Overview

https://venam.net/blog/unix/2025/11/27/input_devices_linux.html

Patrick Louis writes: ""Let’s explore and deobfuscate the input stack on #Linux. Our aim is to understand its components and what each does. Input handling can be divided into two parts, separated by a common layer:

#Kernel-level handling: It deals with what happens in the kernel and how events are exposed to user-space
[…]
Exposed layer (middle)
[…]
User-space handling:
[…]
The Widgets, #XServer, #X11 window managers, and #Wayland compositors, which rely on everything else

We’ll try to make sense of all this, one thing at a time, with a logical and coherent approach.""

#LinuxKernel #evdev

The Input Stack on Linux – An End-To-End Architecture Overview

https://venam.net/blog/unix/2025/11/27/input_devices_linux.html

Patrick Louis writes: ""Let’s explore and deobfuscate the input stack on #Linux. Our aim is to understand its components and what each does. Input handling can be divided into two parts, separated by a common layer:

#Kernel-level handling: It deals with what happens in the kernel and how events are exposed to user-space
[…]
Exposed layer (middle)
[…]
User-space handling:
[…]
The Widgets, #XServer, #X11 window managers, and #Wayland compositors, which rely on everything else

We’ll try to make sense of all this, one thing at a time, with a logical and coherent approach.""

#LinuxKernel #evdev

Once again saw someone blaming the #rust support in the #Linux #kernel for their problems, when in fact the problem at hand had nothing at all to do with it[1].

Kinda funny but also quite worrying at the same time.

See the slightly edited screenshot from a chatroom message below for an example from today. If you look closer, you see that it is a segfault in a userspace #rustlang program.

[1] I once even saw someone complaining when the kernel in fact did not even have CONFIG_RUST enabled…

#LinuxKernel

Once again saw someone blaming the #rust support in the #Linux #kernel for their problems, when in fact the problem at hand had nothing at all to do with it[1].

Kinda funny but also quite worrying at the same time.

See the slightly edited screenshot from a chatroom message below for an example from today. If you look closer, you see that it is a segfault in a userspace #rustlang program.

[1] I once even saw someone complaining when the kernel in fact did not even have CONFIG_RUST enabled…

#LinuxKernel

Quick reminder on the likely reason why Valve's New Steam Machine only supports #HDMI 2.0:

""At this time an open source HDMI 2.1 implementation is not possible without running afoul of the HDMI Forum requirements.""

This is what Alex Deucher, the maintainer of the amdgpu #kernel driver, said one and a half years ago here:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1417#note_2303163

And from the ticket it looks like the problem remains.

See also Alex's earlier comment from early 2021 in the ticket:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1417#note_830547

""HDMI 2.1 is not available on #Linux due to the HDMI Forum.""

#LinuxKernel #Valve #SteamMachine

Quick reminder on the likely reason why Valve's New Steam Machine only supports #HDMI 2.0:

""At this time an open source HDMI 2.1 implementation is not possible without running afoul of the HDMI Forum requirements.""

This is what Alex Deucher, the maintainer of the amdgpu #kernel driver, said one and a half years ago here:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1417#note_2303163

And from the ticket it looks like the problem remains.

See also Alex's earlier comment from early 2021 in the ticket:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd/-/issues/1417#note_830547

""HDMI 2.1 is not available on #Linux due to the HDMI Forum.""

#LinuxKernel #Valve #SteamMachine

3/ Linus weighted in on the "guidelines for tool-generated content" for #Linux debate:

""[…] Honestly, I think the documented rule should not aim to treat AI as anything special at all, and literally just talk about tooling.

Exactly because we've used things like coccinelle (and much simpler tools like 'sed', for that matter) for ages.

IOW, this should all be about "tool-assisted patches should be described as such, and should explain how the tool was used". […]""

See https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=wgEPve=BO=SOmgEOd4kv76bSbm0jWFzRzcs4Y7EedpgfA@mail.gmail.com/ for details. And the later replies https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=wir-u3so=9NiFgG+bWfZHakc47iNy9vZXmSNWSZ+=Ue8g@mail.gmail.com/ and https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=whczwG=+-sAzoWoTY_VOwdFH3b5AkvQbgh+z98=p1iaXA@mail.gmail.com/

The latter contains:

""
> Copyright reasons, mainly.

I really don't see the argument.

The copyright issues are all true for all other code too. In fact, the copyright issues are a thing whether tools were involved or not.

Copyright is *always* a thing. […]""

#LinuxKernel #kernel

The Linux Kernel Looks to "Bite the Bullet" in Enabling Microsoft C Extensions

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.19-Patch-Would-MS-Ext

#HackerNews #LinuxKernel #MicrosoftCExtensions #OpenSource #TechNews #Phoronix

The #Linux developers currently discuss a new document covering "guidelines for tool-generated content"

https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251105231514.3167738-1-dave.hansen@linux.intel.com/

""The shiny new AI tools (chatbots, coding assistants and more) are impressive. Add new Documentation to guide contributors on how to best use #kernel development tools, new and old.""

#LinuxKernel

WebAssembly (WASM) arch support for the Linux kernel

https://github.com/joelseverin/linux-wasm

#HackerNews #WebAssembly #LinuxKernel #WASM #ArchSupport #TechNews #OpenSource

The #Linux Boot Process: From Power Button to #Kernel

https://www.0xkato.xyz/linux-boot/

0xkato writes: ""You press the power button. A second later a wall of text scrolls by, or a logo fades in, and eventually Linux appears. What happens in between is not magic. It is a careful handshake between tiny programs and a very literal CPU. This part follows that handshake until the very first line of C code inside the #LinuxKernel runs.""

#uefi #grub

The #Linux Boot Process: From Power Button to #Kernel

https://www.0xkato.xyz/linux-boot/

0xkato writes: ""You press the power button. A second later a wall of text scrolls by, or a logo fades in, and eventually Linux appears. What happens in between is not magic. It is a careful handshake between tiny programs and a very literal CPU. This part follows that handshake until the very first line of C code inside the #LinuxKernel runs.""

#uefi #grub

Namjae Jeon from exFAT and KSMBD fame published a new #NTFS #Linux #kernel driver called #NTFSPLUS

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251020020749.5522-1-linkinjeon@kernel.org/

""Currently, ntfs support in Linux was the long-neglected NTFS Classic (read-only), which has been removed from the Linux kernel, leaving the poorly maintained ntfs3. ntfs3 still has many problems and is poorly maintained, so users and distributions are still using the old legacy ntfs-3g.

What is ntfsplus?

The remade ntfs called ntfsplus is an implementation that supports write and the essential requirements(iomap, no buffer-head, utilities, xfstests test result) based on read-only classic NTFS. The old read-only ntfs code is much cleaner, with extensive comments, offers readability that makes understanding NTFS easier. This is why ntfsplus was developed on old read-only NTFS base. The target is to provide current trends(iomap, no buffer head, folio), enhanced performance, stable maintenance, utility support including fsck.""

#LinuxKernel

#GNU Linux-Libre 6.17 Kernel Is Now Available for Software Freedom Lovers https://9to5linux.com/gnu-linux-libre-6-17-kernel-is-now-available-for-software-freedom-lovers

#Linux #OpenSource #LinuxKernel

There is now a dedicated drm-rust #Linux tree for Rust DRM #kernel drivers and infrastructure:

https://lore.kernel.org/dri-devel/20250901202850.208116-1-dakr@kernel.org/t/#u

"[…] Multiple DRM Rust drivers (e.g. nova-core, nova-drm, Tyr, rvkms) are in development, with at least Nova and (soon) Tyr already upstream. Having a shared tree will ease and accelerate development, since all drivers can consume new infrastructure in the same release cycle. […]""

#LinuxKernel

Linus QOTD from a recent #Linux #kernel merge commit:

""I am on a mission to write out the more obscure TLAs in order to keep track of them.

Because while math tells us that there are only about 17k different combinations of three-letter acronyms using English letters (26^3), I am convinced that somehow Intel, AMD and ARM have together figured out new mathematics, and have at least a million different TLAs that they use.""

https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/c/20e0d8576484c60c8c0c9d5d6665541c37dee327#LinuxKernel