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diff --git a/inxi.changelog b/inxi.changelog index 6a07097..739e38e 100644 --- a/inxi.changelog +++ b/inxi.changelog @@ -1,4 +1,388 @@ ===================================================================================== +Version: 3.2.00 +Patch: 00 +Date: 2020-12-15 +----------------------------------- +Changes: +----------------------------------- + +Huge upgrade, major rewrite/refactor, new features, everything is polished!!! + +Note that due to large number of internal changes to code, a separate +INTERNAL CODE CHANGES section is at the bottom. Those are changes which in +general do not impact what users see that much, but which definitely impact +working on and with inxi! They also make errors less likely, and removed many +possible bad data error situations. + +BUGS: + +1. Obscure, but very old Tyan Mobo used a form of dmidecode data for RAM that I'd +never gotten a dataset for before, this tripped a series of errors in inxi, which +were actually caused by small errors and failures to check certain things, as +well as simply never assigning data in corner cases. This system used only dmi +handles 5 and 6, which is a very rare setup, from the very early days of dmi +data being settled, but it was valid data, and actually inxi was supposed to support +it, because I'd never gotten a dataset containing such legacy hardware data, the +support didn't work. There were actually several bugs discovered while tracking +this down, all were corrected. + +2. Going along with the cpu fixes below, there was a bug that if stepping was 0, +stepping would not show. I had not realized stepping could be 0, so did a true/false +test instead of a defined test, which makes 0 in perl always test as false. This is +corrected. + +3. While going through code, discovered that missing second argument to main::grabber +would have made glabel tool (BSD I think mostly) always fail, without exception. +That explains why bsd systems were never getting glabel data, heh. + +4. Many null get_size tests would not have worked because they were testing +for null array but ('','') was actually being returned, which is not a null array. +The testing and results for get_size were quite random, now they are all the same +and consistent, and confirmed correct. + +5. In unmounted devices, the match sent to @lsblk to get extended device data +would never work with dm-xx type names, failed to translate them to their +mapped name, which is what is used in lsblk matches, this is corrected. +This could lead to failures to match fs of members of luks, raid, etc, +particularly noticeable with complex logical device structures. This means +the fallback filters against internal logic volume names, various file system +type matches, would always fail. + +6. A small host of further bugs found and fixed during the major refactor, but +not all of them were noted, they were just fixed, sorry, those will be lost +to history unless you compare with diffs the two versions, but that's thousands +of lines, but there were more bugs fixed than listed above, just can't remember +them all. + +FIXES: + +1. There was some ambiguity about when inxi falls back to showing hardware graphics +driver instead of xorg gfx driver when it can't find an xorg driver. That can happen +for instance because of wayland, or because of obscure xorg drivers not yet supported. +Now the message is very clear, it says the gfx software driver is n/a, and that it's +showing the hardware gfx driver. + +2. Big redo of cpu microarch, finally handled cases where same stepping/model ID +has two micorarches listed, now that is shown clearly to users, like AMD Zen family +17, model 18, which can be either Zen or Zen+, so now it shows that ambiguity, and +a comment: note: check, like it shows for ram report when it's not sure. Shows +for instance: +arch: Zen/Zen+ note: check +in such cases, in other words, it tells users that the naming convention +basically changed during the same hardware/die cycle. + +3. There were some raid component errors in the unmounted tests which is supposed +to test the raid components and remove them from the mounted list. Note that inxi +now also tests better if something is a raid component, or an lvm component, or +various other things, so unmounted will be right more often now, though it's still +not perfect since there are still more unhandled logical storage components that +will show as unmounted when tney are parts of logical volumes. Bit by bit!! + +4. Part of a significant android fine tuning and fix series, for -P, android uses +different default names for partitions, so none showed, now a subset of standard +android partitions, like /System, /firmware, etc, shows. Android will never work +well though because google keeps locking down key file read/search permissions in +/sys and /proc. + +5. More ARM device detections, that got tuned quite a bit and cleaned up, for +instance, it was doing case sensitive checks, but found cases where the value +is all upper case, so it was missing it. Now it does case insensitive device type +searches. + +6. One of the oldest glitches in inxi was the failure to take the size of the raid +arrays versus the size totals of the raid array components led to Local Storage +results that were uselessly wrong, being based on what is now called 'raw' disk +totals, that's the raw physical total of all system disks. Now if raid is detected +the old total: used:... is expanded to: total: raw:... usable:....used:, the usable +being the actual disk space that can be used to store data. Also in the case of +LVM systems, a further item is added, lvm-free: to report the unused but available +volume group space, that is, space not currently taken by logical volumes. This +can provide a useful overview of your system storage, and is much improved over +the previous version, which was technically unable to solve that issue because +the internal structures did not support it, now they do. LVM data requires sudo/ +root unfortunately, so you will see different disk raw totals depending on +if it's root or not if there is LVM RAID running. + +Sample: inxi -D +Drives: Local Storage: total: raw: 340.19 GiB usable: 276.38 GiB + lvm-free: 84.61 GiB used: 8.49 GiB (3.1%) + +lvm-free is non assigned volume group size, that is, size not assigned +to a logical volume in the volume group, but available in the volume group. +raw: is the total of all detected block devices, usable is how much of that +can be used in file systems, that is, raid is > 1 devices, but those devices +are not available for storage, only the total of the raid volume is. +Note that if you are not using LVM, you will never see lvm-free:. + +7. An anonymous user sent a dataset that contained a reasonable alternate +syntax for sensors output, that made inxi fail to get the sensors data. That was +prepending 'T' to temp items, and 'F' to fan items, which made enough sense though +I'd never seen it before, so inxi now supports that alternate sensors temp/fan +syntax, so that should expand the systems it supports by default out of the box. + +8. Finally was able to resolve a long standing issue of loading File::Find, which +is only used in --debug 20-22 debugger, from top of inxi to require load in the +debugger. I'd tried to fix this before, but failed, the problem is that redhat +/fedora have broken apart Perl core modules, and made some of them into external +modules, which made inxi fail to start due to missing use of required module that +was not really required. Thanks to mrmazda for pointing this out to me, I'd tried +to get this working before but failed, but this time I figured out how to recode +some of the uses of File::Find so it would work when loaded without the package +debugger, hard to figure it, turned out a specific sub routine call in that +specific case required the parentheses that had been left off, very subtle. + +9. Subtle issue, unlike most of the other device data processors, the USB +data parser did not use the remove duplicates tool, which led in some cases +to duplicated company names in the output for USB, which looks silly. + +10. Somehow devtmpfs was not being detected in all cases to remove that from +partitions report, that was added to the file systen filters to make sure it +gets caught. + +11. Removed LVM image/meta/data data slices from unmounted report, those are LVM +items, but they are internal LVM volumes, not available or usable. I believe +there are other data/meta type variants for different LVM features but I have +added as many types as I could find.. Also explictly now remove any _member type +item, which is always part of some other logical structure, like RAID or +LVM, those were not explicitly handled before. + +12. Corrected the various terms ZFS can use for spare drives, and due to how +those describe slightly different situations than simply spare, changed the spare +section header to Available, which is more accureate for ZFS. + +ENHANCEMENTS: + +1. Going along with FIX 2 is updating and adding to intel, elbrus microarch family/ +model/stepping IDs (E8C2), so that is fairly up to date now. + +2. Added in a very crude and highly unreliable default fallback for intel: +/sys/devices/cpu/caps/pmu_name which will show the basic internal name used +which can be quite different from what the actual microarch name is, but the hope +is that for new intel cpus that come out after these last inxi updates, something +may show, instead of nothing. Note these names are often much more generic, like +using skylake for many different microarches. + +3. More android enhancements, for androids that allow reading of /system/build.prop, +which is a very useful informative system info file, more android data will show, +like the device name and variant, and a few other specialized items. You can see if +your android device lets inxi read build.prop if you see under -S Distro: +Android 7.1 (2016-07-23) or just Android. If it shows just android, that means +it can't read that file. Showing Android however is also new, since while inxi +can't always read build.prop, if that file is there, it's android, so inxi +finally can recognize it's in android, even though it can't give much info if +it's locked down. Inxi in fact did not previously know it was running in android, +which is quite different from ARM systems in some ways, but now it does. + +If the data is available, it will be used in Distro: and in Machine: data to add +more information about the android version and device. + +4. A big one, for -p/-P/-o/-j now shows with -x the mapped device name, not just +the /dev/dm-xx ID, which makes connecting the various new bits easier, for RAID, +Logical reports. Note that /dev/mapper/ is removed from the mapped name since +that's redundant and verbose and makes the output harder to read. For mapped +devices, the new --logical / -L report lets you drill into the devices to find +out what dm-xx is actually based on. + +5. More big ones, for -a -p/-P/-o/-j/-R/-L shows kernel device major:minor +number, which again lets you trace each device around the system and report. + +6. Added mdadm if root for mdraid report, that let me add a few other +details for mdraid not previously available. This added item 'state;' +to the mdraid report with right -x options. + +7. Added vpu component type to ARM gfx device type detection, don't know +how video processing vpu had escaped my notice. + +8. Added fio[a-z] block device, I'd never heard of that before, but saw +use of it in dataset, so learned it's real, but was never handled as a +valid block device type before, like sda, hda, vda, nvme, mmcblk, +etc. fio works the same, it's fio + [a-z] + [0-9]+ partition number. + +9. Expanded to alternate syntax Elbrus cpu L1, L2, L3 reporting. Note +that in their nomenclature, L0 and L1 are actually both L1, so add those +together when detected. + +10. RAM, thanks to a Mint user, antikythera, learned, and handled something +new, module 'speed:' vs module 'configured clock speed:'. +To quote from supermicro: + +<<< +Question: Under dmidecode, my 'Configured Clock Speed' is lower than my +'Speed'. What does each term mean and why are they not the same? +Answer: Under dmidecode, Speed is the expected speed of the memory +(what is advertised on the memory spec sheet) and Configured Clock Speed +is what the actual speed is now. The cause could be many things but the +main possibilities are mismatching memory and using a CPU that doesn't +support your expected memory clock speed. +Please use only one type of memory and make sure that your CPU supports +your memory. +>>> + +11. Since RAM was gettng a look, also changed cases where ddr ram speed is reported +in MHz, now it will show the speeds as: [speed * 2] MT/S ([speed] MHz). This +will let users make apples to apples speed comparisons between different systems. +Since MT/S is largely standard now, there's no need to translate that to MHz. + +12. And, even more!! When RAM speeds are logically absurd, adds in note: check +This is from a real user's data by the way, as you can see, it triggers all +the new RAM per Device report features. + +Sample: +Memory: + RAM: total: 31.38 GiB used: 20.65 GiB (65.8%) + Array-1: capacity: N/A slots: 4 note: check EC: N/A + Device-1: DIMM_A1 size: 8 GiB speed: 1600 MT/s (800 MHz) + Device-2: DIMM_A2 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 1600 MT/s (800 MHz) + actual: 61910 MT/s (30955 MHz) note: check + Device-3: DIMM_B1 size: 8 GiB speed: 1600 MT/s (800 MHz) + Device-4: DIMM_B2 size: 8 GiB speed: spec: 1600 MT/s (800 MHz) + actual: 2 MT/s (1 MHz) note: check + +13. More disks vendor!!! More disk vendor IDs!!! Yes, that's right, eternity +exists, here, now, and manifests every day!! Thanks to linux-lite hardware +database for this eternally generating list. Never underestimate the +creativity of mankind to make more disk drive companies, and to release +new model IDs for existing companies. Yes, I feel that this is a metaphore +for something much larger, but what that is, I'm not entirely clear about. + +CHANGES: + +1. Recent kernel changes have added a lot more sensor data in /sys, although +this varies system to system, but now, if your system supports it, you can +get at least partial hdd temp reports without needing hddtemp or root. Early +results suggest that nvme may have better support than spinning disks, but it +really varies. inxi will now look for the /sys based temp first, then fall +back to the much slower and root / sudo only hddtemp. You can force hddtemp +always with --hddtemp option, which has a corresponding configuration item. + +2. The long requested and awaited yet arcane and obscure feature -L/--logical, +which tries to give a reasonably good report on LVM, LUKS, VeraCrypt, as well +as handling LVM raid, both regular and thin, is now working. This took a lot +of testing, and is a very solid and good start in my view, going from nothing +to something is always a big improvement!! LVM reports require root/sudo. This +will, finally, close issue #135. + +3. Going along with -L, and serving as a model for the logic of -L, was the +complete refactor of -R, RAID, which was a real mess internally, definitely +one of the messiest and hardest to work with features of inxi before the +refactor. It's now completely cleaned up and modularized, and is easy to add +raid types, which was not possible before, now it cleanly supports zfs, mdraid, +and lvm raid, with in depth reports and added items like mdraid size, raid +component device sizes and maj:min numbers if the -a option is used. Note +that LVM RAID requires root/sudo. + +4. Added some more sensors dimm, volts items, slight expansion. Note that the +possible expansion of sensors made possible by the recently upgraded sensors +output logic, as well as the new inxi internal sensors data structure, +which is far more granular than the previous version, and allows for much +more fine grained control and output, though only gpu data currently takes +advantage of this new power under the covers, although as noted, the /sys based +hdd temps use the same source, only straight from /sys, since it was actually +easier using the data directly from sys than trying to map the drive locations to +specific drives in sensors output. Well, to be accurate, since now only +board type sensors are used for the temp/fan speed, voltage, etc, reports, +the removal of entire sensor groups means less chance of wrong results. + +5. To bring the ancient RAID logic to fit the rest of inxi style, made +zfs, mdraid, and lvm raid components use incrementing numbers, like cpu +cores does. This got rid of the kind of ugly hacks used previously +which were not the same for zfs or mdraid, but now they are all the same, +except that the numbers for mdraid are the actual device numbers that +mdraid supplies, and the LVM and ZFS numbers are just autoincremented, +starting at 1. + +6. Changed message <root/superuser required> to <superuser required> because +it's shorter and communicates the same thing. + +INTERNAL CODE CHANGES: + +1. Small, transparent test, tested on Perl 5.032 for Perl 7 compatibility. All +tests passed, no legacy code issues in inxi as of now. + +2. Although most users won't notice, a big chunk of inxi was refactored +internally, which is why the new -L, the revamped -R, and the fixed +disk totals finally all can work now. This may hopefully result in more +consistent output and fewer oddities and randomnesses, since more of the +methods all use the same tools now under the covers. Ths refactor also +significantly improved inxi's execution speed, by about 4-5%, but most +of those gains are not visible due to the added new features, but the +end result is new inxi runs roughly the same speed as pre 3.2.00 inxi, but +does more, and does it better, internally at least. If you have a very +good eye you may also note a few places where this manifests externally +as well. Last I checked about 10-12% of the lines of inxi had been changed, +but I think that number is higher now. Everything that could be optimized +was, everything could be made more efficient was. + +3. Several core tools in inxi were expanded to work much more cleanly, +like reader(), which now supports returning just the index value you want, +that always happened on the caller end before, which led to extra code. +get_size likewise was expanded to do a string return, which let me +remove a lot of internal redundant code in creating the size unit output, +like 32 MiB. uniq() was also redone to work exclusively by reference. + +4. Many bad reference and dereference practices that had slipped into inxi +from the start are mostly corrected now, array assignments use push now, +rather than assign to array, then add array to another array, and assign +those to the master array. Several unnecessary and cpu/ram intensive copying +steps, that is, were removed in many locations internally in inxi. Also +now inxi uses more direct anonymous array and hash refernce assignments, +which again removes redundant array/hash creation, copy, and assignment. + +5. Also added explicit -> dereferencing arrows to make the code more clear +and readable, and to make it easier for perl to know what is happening. +The lack of consistency actually created confusion, I was not aware of +what certain code was doing, and didn't realize it was doing the same +thing as other code because of using different methods and syntaxes for +referencing array/hash components. I probably missed some, but I got many +of them, most probably. + +6. Instituted a new perl builtin sub routine rule which is: if the sub +takes 2 or more arguments, always put in parentheses, it makes the +code much easier to follow because you see the closing ), like: +push(@rows,@row); Most perl builtins that take only one arg do not +use parentheses, except length, which just looks weird when used in +math tests, that is: length($var) > 13 looks better than length $var > 13. +This resolved inconsistent uses that had grown over time, so now all the +main builtins follow these rules consistently internally. + +Due to certain style elements, and the time required to carefully go through +all these rules, grep and map do not yet consistently use these rules, that's +because the tendency has been to use the grep {..test..} @array and +map {...actions...} @array + +7. Mainly to deal with android failures to read standard system files due to +google locking it down, moved most file queries to use -r, is readable, rather +than -e, exists, or -f, is file, unless it only needs to know if it exists, +of course. This fixed many null data errors in android even on locked androids. + +8. Added in %mapper and %dmmapper hashes to allow for easy mapping and +unmapping of mapped block devices. Got rid of other ways of doing that, +and made it consistent throughout inxi. These are globals that load once. + +9. Learned that perl builtin split() has a very strange and in my view originally +terrible decision that involves treating as regex rules string characters in split +string, like split('^^',$string), which should logically be a string value, not +a ^ start search followed by a ^, but that's how it is, so that was carefully checked +and made consistent as well. Also expanded split to take advantage of the number of +splits to do, which I had only used occasionally before, but only updated field/value +splits where I have a good idea of what the data is. This is very useful when the +data is in the form of field: value, but value can contain : as well. You have to +be very careful however, since some data we do want in fact the 2nd split, but not +the subsequent ones, so I only updated the ones I was very sure about. + +10. Going along with the cpu microarch fixes, updated and cleaned up all the lists +of model/stepping matches, now they are all in order and much easier to scan and +find, that had gotten sloppy over the years. + +11. More ARM, moved dummy and codec device values into their own storage arrays, +that let me remove the filters against those in the other detections. Makes logic +easier to read and maintain as well. + + +----------------------------------- +-- Harald Hope - Tue, 15 Dec 2020 15:08:05 -0800 + +===================================================================================== Version: 3.1.09 Patch: 00 Date: 2020-11-11 |