erek
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BSOD comes to Linux
- Thread starter erek
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Nobu
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Been in the works for a while, nice to see it working now. Although, it's always better to not have the crash/panic in the first place, having some sort of visual indication that something went very wrong is nice, especially if it has some useful debugging information.
erek
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"'Blue Screen of Death' Comes To Linux (phoronix.com)
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday June 16, 2024 @05:10PM from the handling-panic dept.In 2016, Phoronix remembered how the early days of Linux kernel mode-setting (KMS) had brought hopes for improved error messages. And one long-awaited feature was errors messages for "Direct Rendering Manager" (or DRM) drivers — something analgous to the "Blue Screen of Death" Windows gives for critical errors.
Now Linux 6.10 is introducing a new DRM panic handler infrastructure enabling messages when a panic occurs, Phoronix reports today. "This is especially important for those building a kernel without VT/FBCON support where otherwise viewing the kernel panic message isn't otherwise easily available."With Linux 6.10 the initial DRM Panic code has landed as well as wiring up the DRM/KMS driver support for the SimpleDRM, MGAG200, IMX, and AST drivers. There is work underway on extending DRM Panic support to other drivers that we'll likely see over the coming kernel cycles for more widespread support... On Linux 6.10+ with platforms having the DRM Panic driver support, this "Blue Screen of Death" functionality can be tested via a route such as echo c > /proc/sysrq-trigger.
The article links to a picture shared on Mastodon by Red Hat engineer Javier Martinez Canillas of the error message being generated on a BeaglePlay single board computer.
Phoronix also points out that some operating systems have even considered QR codes for kernel error messages..."
LurkerLito
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IDK, I wish they did it different so, something more linux-y. I personally still like the Amiga Guru Meditation screen look better than the BSOD. 
Dreamerbydesign
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But any other color…. The stigma associated with the bsod especially back in the early 90’s… just hits home
erek
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Opinion?
RanceJustice
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Agreed, I imagine there will be versions that include plenty of debugging info. Chances to invoke a -v flag for verbose output if desired is one thing Linux doesn't lack!
Its neat that the Red Hat developer testing the feature shared it via Mastodon, a FOSS, federated, microblogging focused alternative to Xitter . "Fediverse" FOSS projects to provide alternatives to major social media platforms are a form of harm reduction in the age of social media (provided that server admins govern with an open ethos). The particular server the dev is using is FOSStodon, which as the name suggests has a significant FOSS community userbase.
IDK, I wish they did it different so, something more linux-y. I personally still like the Amiga Guru Meditation screen look better than the BSOD.
I'd guess that there will be many versions with different aesthetics, from references to other OS error types like those mentioned to more creative new options, could all pop up as the feature is more established. If you'd like the Matrix falling code "System Failure" dialog, or there's a kernel panic and you want a BSOD with an ascii caricature of Bill Gates w/ a hammer jumping through a broken WIndow(s) chasing an exhausted Tux , or a GPU error with a picture of a smiling man in a leather jacket shrugging as behind him a locked box marked "NV" has smoke coming out of the lid , I'm sure there will be some sort of option!
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IIRC the OG self-detected crash screen was the personified Mac face with X's for eyes. I'd take that but with Tux over a Windows-like BSOD (which Apple since OSX has even used for its Windows PC network sharing icon).
michalrz
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Where are the SysRq instructions?
Kernel panic doesn't end the session.
It's no longer safe to run the kernel and modules, but there are key combinations that let you perform various tasks.
You can still recover from, say, an out-of-memory condition, force sync (write buffers to disks) and some other stuff.
Displaying it like that is stupid. If you're gonna change it, change it for the better.
Kernel panic doesn't end the session.
It's no longer safe to run the kernel and modules, but there are key combinations that let you perform various tasks.
You can still recover from, say, an out-of-memory condition, force sync (write buffers to disks) and some other stuff.
Displaying it like that is stupid. If you're gonna change it, change it for the better.
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Zarathustra[H]
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Why though?
Setting aside the fact that I haven't actually seen a Kernel Panic in over a decade...
Like seriously, what value does this add?
Setting aside the fact that I haven't actually seen a Kernel Panic in over a decade...
Like seriously, what value does this add?
Darunion
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This is part of the movement for linux taking over the desktop market. baby steps.
Zarathustra[H]
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I don't want Linux to take over the desktop market.
Doing so would involve far too many compromises that would turn it into something that is no longer Linux, and I actually like linux.
Linux is best as a niche platform for enthusiasts who like using the terminal, shun GUI configuration in favor of configuring things by editing text-based config files, and generally want Linux to remain as un-Windows as possible.
Don't fucking ruin this too....
Darunion
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Either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. I know im being cheeky about it but it really is the only thing i can come up with for why this move. Familiarity for new users.
Just because practically nobody does it doesn't mean it's not possible to have a gui that is written to let you do things fast.
Assuming more information is added, this will be useful when you get a kernel panic and you were running a GUI. If nothing else, it tells you that your computer is stuck because the kernel didn't like something, and it's unrecoverable.
If you're not seeing kernel panics, you must be pretty lucky. In my experience, kernel panics are usually related to hardware going off the rails, whether that's ecc uncorrectable errors, memory corruption leading to wrong addresses, hard drives / controllers disappearing (sometimes you can configure that not to panic), devices DMAing to the wrong addresses, etc, but problems with the kernel itself happen too (especially if I'm messing with a kernel)
A good panic message helps identify what was happening around the time of the panic and can narrow down the search for faults. Ideally, saved to disk too, somehow, but can't do that if the disks went away.
Nobu
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I'm sure devs encounter panics much more frequently, and it may be useful to have a short summary of what happened and where, if the dev already has an idea of what might be happening.
For end users, it's probably next to useless other than for reporting bugs or maybe figuring out which kernel driver barfed. But that can still be useful.
I've had very little success with sysrq key sequences in modern distros, maybe because they've been disabled? I figure it's some security thing, or maybe it just doesn't work current wayland compositors for whatever reason. Either way, this wouldn't (or shouldn't) replace those. Any debugging/troubleshooting/maintenance you could do with those before, should still be possible with a crash screen -- they aren't mutually exclusive.
For end users, it's probably next to useless other than for reporting bugs or maybe figuring out which kernel driver barfed. But that can still be useful.
I've had very little success with sysrq key sequences in modern distros, maybe because they've been disabled? I figure it's some security thing, or maybe it just doesn't work current wayland compositors for whatever reason. Either way, this wouldn't (or shouldn't) replace those. Any debugging/troubleshooting/maintenance you could do with those before, should still be possible with a crash screen -- they aren't mutually exclusive.