fixing Linux Mint 18.3 for Meltdown and Spectre

[tovian]

..........I think this article targets the exact cause and why.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/01 ... s-patches/

Ya just gotta love that the article was written by a guy named "BRIGHT"

[ClixTrix]

Kernel.org released 4.14.12 with a follow-up patch that avoids the KPTI fix implementation on AMD processors and the unnecessary slowdown, so I'll probably try 4.14.12 for my Ryzen.

[Sir Charles]

Linux KPTI Tests Using Linux 4.14 vs. 4.9 vs. 4.4

Here is the result of som tests that Phoronix has run to show the impact of the KPTI on performance:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... pcid&num=1

t seems that the negative impact of the security measures are not as bad as what was believed at the beginning of this cpu scandal.

"These Linux 4.4 vs. 4.9 vs. Linux 4.14 kernel tests of KPTI on/off were done using an Intel Core i7 4790K "Haswell" system that is well supported by Linux for some time and thus no compatibility issues going back to 4.9 or further." (source: the link above)

[Sir Charles]

Kernel.org released 4.14.12 with a follow-up patch that avoids the KPTI fix implementation on AMD processors and the unnecessary slowdown, so I'll probably try 4.14.12 for my Ryzen.

I have been running 4.4.11 with KPTI enabled since yesterday on my rather low spec Intel PC and I havn't noticed any negative impact on the performance. It is said that the performance hit is workload dependent so I assume performing tasks making lots of system calls could have some negative impact.

[ClixTrix]

The ZDNet article has a pretty good breakdown on the impact. The "random I/O to NvMe" at 8 to 19% got my attention due to my config and intended workload.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-the-me ... ffect-you/

My point in posting was to reassure AMD users that they WON'T be affected by the attempts to patch the Meltdown bug. I absolutely agree that any slowdown by the KPTI patch is dependent on your workload.

Oh.....and running 4.14.12 on my test partition now on sig system.

[ClixTrix]

Well, already have a bug problem with the "Strict Site Isolation" feature on Chrome/Chromium.

Go to any ebay listing page. You'll see what I'm seeing. FYI....ebay heavily scripts and loads the Description section in an IFRAME. Can you say SQUISH!

Edit: More checking.... ebay descriptions with simple text only are getting the problem. I am seeing some more stylized pages load OK.

[Pjotr]

OK, relief is at hand, namely on January, 9:
https://insights.ubuntu.com/2018/01/04/ ... abilities/

Apparently those Ubuntu devs have worked through the Christmas and New Year holidays.... Not much fun for them.

Some things that stand out: it seems that for Ubuntu 16.04.x (and therefore Mint 18.x) only the 4.4 kernel series and the 4.13 kernel series will be fixed. Furthermore, these fixes are only for 64-bit kernels.

[Sir Charles]

At the moment I am using Firefox Nightly (current version 59.0a1) and it has a fix for both Meltdown and Spectre implemented. I admit that I was positively surprised how well FF Nightly works. So far I havn't been experiencing any instability or bugs.

[Pjotr]

At the moment I am using Firefox Nightly (current version 59.0a1) and it has a fix for both Meltdown and Spectre implemented. I admit that I was positively surprised how well FF Nightly works. So far I havn't been experiencing any instability or bugs.

Firefox 57.0.4 has also been fixed:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... ox-browser

[Sir Charles]

OK, relief is at hand, namely on January, 9

That's good news! I will be rolling back to 4.13 then when it will receive the updates.

[Sir Charles]

Firefox 57.0.4 has also been fixed:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... ox-browser

Yes, it's true but I thought that I will go all in and try out something "Bleeding Edge" for once.

[Pepi]

OK, relief is at hand, namely on January, 9

That's good news! I will be rolling back to 4.13 then when it will receive the updates.

I tried 4.13 this morning and it trashed my computer until I rolled back to 4.10.0-42. Not making me feel to fuzzy inside

[Sir Charles]

I tried 4.13 this morning and it trashed my computer until I rolled back to 4.10.0-42. Not making me feel to fuzzy inside

That's unfortunate. I have tried both 4.14.11 and 4.13.0-21. Both of them have been working fine.

[Pjotr]

OK, relief is at hand, namely on January, 9

That's good news! I will be rolling back to 4.13 then when it will receive the updates.

I tried 4.13 this morning and it trashed my computer until I rolled back to 4.10.0-42. Not making me feel to fuzzy inside

You might try rolling back to the 4.4 series....

[kitaubila]

what about mate v17.x? is there going to be an update or I have to upgrade to v18.x first? Is that even possible or I should start again. I'm using it in oracle VM.
thanks.

[Pepi]

Newest worked fine on my Asus laptop fine

[Schultz]

kitaubila wrote:
what about mate v17.x?

The version of Mint doesn't matter. Just update the kernel. For Mint 17.x, kernel series 3.13 will get the update. Or you could always use kernel series 4.4 or 4.13 if they work with your system. But I don't know if they show in Mint 17.x's Update Manager or not.

[Superannuated]

kitaubila wrote:
what about mate v17.x?

Or you could always use kernel series 4.4 or 4.13 if they work with your system. But I don't know if they show in Mint 17.x's Update Manager or not.

Yes, the 4.4 kernel shows up in the 17.3 Update Manager.

Just to be certain, if I am running 4.4 on 17.3 will the patch be effective or do I have to roll back to 3.13?

[Sir Charles]

Just to be certain, if I am running 4.4 on 17.3 will the patch be effective or do I have to roll back to 3.13?

Well, I believe the patch will be effective on all the kernels for which they are intended. No need to rolling back.

[Superannuated]

Well, I believe the patch will be effective on all the kernels for which they are intended. No need to rolling back.

I suspect you are correct. I wish the insights.ubuntu article were a little better written because it gives the impression that if you are running the Trusty base (Mint 17) then you should roll back to kernel 3.13.

Updates will be available for:
Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful) — Linux 4.13 HWE
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial) — Linux 4.4 (and 4.4 HWE)
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty) — Linux 3.13