RHBA-2010:0277 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An enhanced libaio package is now available.

Description

The Linux-native asynchronous I/O facility ("async I/O" or "aio") has a
richer API and capability set than the simple POSIX asynchronous I/O
facility. This library, libaio, provides the Linux-native API for
asynchronous I/O. The POSIX asynchronous I/O facility requires this library
in order to provide kernel-accelerated asynchronous I/O capabilities, as do
applications which require the Linux-native asynchronous I/O API.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux lacked support for eventfd, which generates file
descriptors. These descriptors are used to provide an event wait/notify
mechanism for userspace applications. eventfd has now been added to the API
and integrated with Asynchronous Input/Output (AIO). It eliminates the need
to use pipes to signal events, reducing kernel overhead as it does not
consume two file descriptors each time, as the previous method did. eventfd
also offers an fd-bridge and can be used to signal the readiness of
interfaces that would otherwise be incompatible with the Linux kernel.
(BZ#540626)

Users are advised to upgrade to this updated libaio package, which adds
this enhanced functionality. [Kernel update needed: RHBA-2009:9260]

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)