RHBA-2005:534 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated kernel-utils package that fixes various bugs is now available.

Description

The kernel-utils package contains several utilities that can be used to
control the kernel or machine hardware. Included are:

• dmidecode - gives information about the BIOS and motherboard revisions
• microcode_ctl - updates the microcode on Intel CPUs
• smartctl - monitors the health of disks

This updated kernel-utils package addresses the following issues:

cpuspeed improvements:

• Improved SMP/Dual-core support.
• Lowered default idle sampling time to 20s instead of 2s, which will

prevent excessive CPU frequency switching.

Several problems with the microcode_ctl utility were fixed.

All users of kernel-utils should upgrade to this updated package, which
resolves these issues.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 154571 - dmidecode v2.2 does not work on IBM eServer xSeries 445
• BZ - 160833 - The /dev/cpu/microcode node required by the microcode_ctl initscript is not created

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)