Chapter 3 New Features and Changes

Table of Contents

This section describes new features and changes in Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64). For details of the new features and changes in the initial release of Oracle Linux 7, see Oracle® Linux 7: Release Notes for Oracle Linux 7. Note that Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64) is the first release of Oracle Linux 7 that is supported for Arm architecture platforms.

3.1 MySQL Community Packages

The MySQL Community 8.0.11 packages are available for Arm on the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and the Oracle Linux yum server.

You can install MySQL Community packages directly from ULN or the Oracle Linux yum server by enabling the appropriate channel or repository. For example, if you are using the Oracle Linux yum server you can enable the ol7_MySQL80 repository by installing the mysql-release-el7 package to obtain the correct yum repository configuration and then running yum-config-manager to update the configuration: 

# yum install mysql-release-el7
# yum-config-manager --enable ol7_MySQL80

To enable the channel on ULN, use the ULN web interface to subscribe the system to the appropriate channel:

  1. Log in to https://linux.oracle.com with your ULN user name and password.

  2. On the Systems tab, click the link named for the system in the list of registered machines.

  3. On the System Details page, click Manage Subscriptions.

  4. On the System Summary page, select each required channel from the list of available channels and click the right arrow to move the channel to the list of subscribed channels.

    Subscribe the system to the ol7_aarch64_MySQL80_community channel.

  5. Click Save Subscriptions.

Note

Arm support is limited to MySQL Community 8.0.11. Channels for prior MySQL Community releases are not available for aarch64.

3.2 Packaging

Starting with Oracle Linux 7.5, the setup package provides and sources environment settings in a defined order that overrides any unpredictable environment settings. This change is especially useful in situations where multiple scripts changed the same environment setting.

3.3 DTrace

DTrace has been enabled for Arm platforms and ports of the DTrace code are available in UEK R5. Please refer to the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5.

The DTrace user space code in the dtrace-utils package has also all been ported to run on 64-bit Arm platforms to fully enable DTrace for Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64)

3.4 Developer Toolchain

The Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64) release includes a toolchain that provides a solid developer toolset to build code for 64-bit Arm platforms and to compile modules against the provided kernel. This includes the version 7.3 of the gcc compiler used to build the aarch64 version of UEK R5.

Developer tools are released as a software collection that can be found in the /addons/Oscl directory repository on the provided ISO. You can install the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection using yum: 

# yum install scl-utils oracle-armtoolset-1

Once the oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is installed, you can enable it by running the following command: 

# scl enable oracle-armtoolset-1 bash

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is released as an addition to the Software Collection Library for Oracle Linux and is only available on aarch64 platforms.

Note

The oracle-armtoolset-1 software collection is required if you need to build kernel modules from source.

3.5 Virtualization

The following virtualization features, bug fixes, and enhancements are included in this update:

  • KASLR for KVM guests added.  Capability for Kernel address-space layout randomization (KASLR) for KVM guests has been added in this update.

  • libvirt updated to version 4.7.0.  This version of the libvirt utility includes bug fixes and improvements from the previous version. Note that version 4.0.0 of the package is shipped on the installation media. If you install this package from the installation media, you must use ULN or the Oracle Linux yum server to update to version 4.7.0 or later. Oracle does not provide ongoing support for versions of libvirt prior to 4.7.0 on the Arm platform.

  • QEMU updated to version 3.0.0.  This version of QEMU includes several bug fixes, including important security fixes and a large number of KVM integration improvements. Note that version 2.11.1 is shipped on the installation media. If you install this package from the installation media, you must use ULN or the Oracle Linux yum server to update to version 3.0.0 or later. Oracle does not provide ongoing support for versions of qemu prior to 3.0.0 on the Arm platform.

3.6 Technology Preview

Features that are currently under technology preview when using UEK R5 are described in Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel: Release Notes for Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 5.

This section specifies items specific to the Arm architecture and Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64) that are not supported but which may be made available under technology preview.

Oracle makes available a disk image of Oracle Linux 7.5 (aarch64) for use on Raspberry Pi™ 3 Model B+ hardware. This disk image is available as a technology preview for developer use only and Oracle does not provide support for the disk image or the hardware. Oracle recommends that developers assist each other on the Oracle Linux for Arm community forum at https://community.oracle.com/community/technology_network_community/server_%26_storage_systems/linux/oracle-linux-for-arm

Linux Containers (LXC) are available as a technology preview and functionality may be limited.

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