Linux leader Linus Torvalds has issued his first update to the new 2.6 kernel at the heart of the open-source operating system, releasing version 2.6.1 on Friday. The new version includes changes to improve Linux for digital TV systems and for servers with Intel Itanium or Advanced Micro Devices processors, along with myriad other changes that often had been put on hold, as programmers focused on getting 2.6.0 out the door.
Although Torvalds released the new version, most of the updates were approved by Andrew Morton, who has been named to maintain the 2.6 software. At the top of Morton"s list of changes in 2.6.0 was the ability to run on multiprocessor servers -- the machines that run around the clock, handling tasks such as bank account management, stock trades, supermarket sales transactions and e-mail delivery. Whereas the 2.4 kernel works on servers with four or sometimes eight processors, the 2.6 kernels stretch to 32-processor systems, Morton said.
Linux is showing fast growth in a slowly recovering server market. A total of $743m (£402m) in Linux servers was sold during the third quarter, a 50 percent increase over the same quarter in 2002, according to research firm IDC. "From the first quarter to the second quarter to the third quarter, we"ve seen an acceleration in the growth rate of Linux servers," IDC analyst Jean Bozman said.