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LWN.net

[$] The relicensing of chardet

Chardet is a Python module that attempts to determine which character set was used to encode a text string. It was originally written by Mark Pilgrim, who is also the author of a number of Python books; the 1.0 release happened in 2006. For many years, this module has been under the maintainership of Dan Blanchard. Chardet has always been licensed under the LGPL, but, with the 7.0.0 release, Blanchard changed the terms to the permissive MIT license. That has led to an extensive (and ongoing) discussion on when code can be relicensed against the wishes of its original author, and whether using a large language model to rewrite code is a legitimate way to strip copyleft requirements from code.

LWN.net

Buildroot 2026.02 released

Peter Korsgaard has announced version 2026.02 of Buildroot, a tool for generating embedded Linux systems through cross-compilation. Notable changes include added support for HPPA, use of the 6.19.x kernel headers by default, better SBOM generation, and more. Again a very active cycle with more than 1500 changes from 97 unique contributors. I'm once again very happy to see so many "new" people next to the "oldtimers". See the changelog for full details. Thanks to Julien Olivain for pointing us to the announcement.

LPI

What Everybody Knows About You: Banks

This article is part of a continuing series about data collection today. Following the information gluttony of retailers in the previous article, financial institutions seem quite restrained. None of the resources I found suggested that they had any interest in ... Read more The post What Everybody Knows About You: Banks appeared first on Linux Professional Institute (LPI).

Phoronix

System76 Comments On Recent Age Verification Laws

System76 published a statement today regarding the recent laws coming about in California and likely Colorado and New York too around requiring age verification on operating system accounts and ultimately exposing the information (or at least age brackets) to apps and websites. System76's position is interesting given that they sell Linux-loaded desktops, workstations and laptops plus being an operating system vendor with their in-house Pop!_OS distribution and COSMIC desktop environment...

Linux Journal

Intel Expands Linux Graphics Team to Boost Drivers and Gaming Support

by George Whittaker Intel is once again investing in Linux development. The company has recently posted several job openings aimed at strengthening its Linux graphics driver and GPU software teams, signaling continued interest in improving Intel hardware support on the open-source platform. For Linux users, especially gamers and developers, this could mean faster improvements to Intel’s graphics stack and stronger support for modern workloads. New Roles Focused on Linux Graphics Intel has listed multiple GPU Software Development Engineer positions, many of which specifically focus on Linux graphics technologies. These roles involve working on the full graphics stack, including firmware, kernel drivers, and user-space components used by applications and games. The responsibilities for these positions include: Developing and optimizing Intel GPU drivers for Linux Improving the Linux graphics stack, including kernel DRM drivers and Mesa components Working with graphics APIs and tools used

LWN.net

New stable kernels to address build failures

Sasha Levin has announced the release of the 6.12.76, 6.6.129, and 6.1.166 stable kernels. These releases address a regression reported by Peter Schneider; Levin said that an upgrade is only necessary for those who have observed a build failure with the 6.12.75, 6.6.128, or 6.1.165 kernels.

LWN.net

[$] Reconsidering the multi-generational LRU

The multi-generational LRU (MGLRU) is an alternative memory-management algorithm that was merged for the 6.1 kernel in late 2022. It brought a promise of much-improved performance and simplified code. Since then, though, progress on MGLRU has stalled, and it still is not enabled on many systems. As the 2026 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory-Management and BPF Summit (LSFMM+BPF) approaches, several memory-management developers have indicated a desire to talk about the future of MGLRU. While some developers are looking for ways to improve the subsystem, another has called for it to be removed entirely.