uuidparse -- this is a new small command to get more information about UUIDs
"hash". The command provides info about UUID type, variant and time. For
example:
$ (uuidgen; uuidgen -t) | uuidparse UUID VARIANT TYPE TIME 8f251893-d33a-40f7-9bb3-36988ec77527 DCE random 66509634-b404-11e7-aa8e-7824af891670 DCE time-based 2017-10-18 15:01:04,751570+0200
The command su has been refactored and extended to create pseudo terminal for
the session (new option --pty). The reason is CVE-2016-2779, but the issue
addressed by this CVE is pretty old and all the problem is silently ignored for
for years on many places (on only su(1)). The core of the problem is that
unprivileged user (within su(1) session) shares terminal file descriptor with
original root's session. The new option --pty forces su(1) to create
independent pseudo terminal for the session and than su(1) works as proxy
between the terminals. The feature is experimental and not enabled by default
(you have to use su --pty).
standard su session (all on pts/0):
24909 pts/0 S 0:02 \_ -bash 13607 pts/0 S 0:00 \_ su - kzak 13608 pts/0 S 0:00 \_ -bash 13679 pts/0 R+ 0:00 \_ ps af
su --pty session (root pts/0; user pts/5):
24909 pts/0 S 0:02 \_ -bash 13857 pts/0 S+ 0:00 \_ su --pty - kzak 13858 pts/5 Ss 0:00 \_ -bash 13921 pts/5 R+ 0:00 \_ ps af
rfkill -- this is a new command in util-linux. The command was originally
written by Johannes Berg and Marcel Holtmann and maintained for years as
standalone package. We believe that it's better to maintain and distribute it
with another commands on one place. The util-linux version is backwardly
compatible with the original implementations. The command has been also improved
(libsmartcols ouotput, etc.), the new default output:
# rfkill ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD 0 bluetooth tpacpi_bluetooth_sw unblocked unblocked 1 wlan phy0 unblocked unblocked 4 bluetooth hci0 blocked unblocked
The library libuuid and command uuidgen support hash-based UUIDs v3 (md5) and
v5 (sha1) as specified by RFC-4122 now. The library also provides UUID templates
for dns, url, oid, or x500. For example:
$ uuidgen --sha1 --namespace @dns --name foobar.com e361e3ab-32c6-58c4-8f00-01bee1ad27ec
and it's expected to use v3 and v5 UUIDs as hierarchy, so you can use this UUID (or arbitrary other UUID) as a namespace:
$ uuidgen --sha1 --namespace e361e3ab-32c6-58c4-8f00-01bee1ad27ec --name mystuff 513f905c-7df2-5afa-9470-4e82382dbf00
I can imagine system where for example per-user or per-architecture partition
UUIDs are based on this system. For example use UUID specific for the system root as --namespace and username as --name, or so.
wipefs and libblkid have been improved to provide all possible string
permutations for a device. It means that wipefs does not return the first
detected signature, but it continues and tries another offsets for the
signature. This is important for filesystems and partitions tables where the
superblock is backuped on multiple places (e.g. GPT) or detectable by multiple
independent ways (FATs). This all is possible without a device modification
(the old version provides the same, but only in "wipe" mode).
The libfdisk has been extended to use BLKPG ioctls to inform the kernel about
changes. This means that cfdisk and fdisk will not force your kernel to reread
all of the partition table, but untouched partitions may remain mounted and used
by the system. The typical use-case is resizing the last partition on the system
disk.
You can use cfdisk to resize a partition. Yep, cool.
The hwclock command now significantly reduces system shutdown times by not
reading the RTC before setting it (except when the --update-drift option is
used). This also mitigates other potential shutdown and RTC setting problems
caused by requiring an RTC read.
