# NetBSD-8 release notes items #

Below list needs to be expanded about ARM changes.  
Then expanded to be readable by an average technically inclined person.  
Then reordered for most cool things on top.

* PaX MPROTECT (W\^X) memory protection enforced by default on some architectures with fine-grained memory protection and suitable PLT formats:
  i386, amd64, evbarm, landisk, pmax
* PaX ASLR enabled by default on:
  i386, amd64, evbarm, landisk, pmax, sparc64
* MKPIE default for userland on:
  i386, amd64, arm, m68k, mips, sh3, sparc64
* In-kernel audio mixer
* Real-Time Signals
* Synchronize Machine Independent features in ptrace(2) with Linux and FreeBSD
* sys_info a new script to return version information for system libraries and utilities
* added intrctl(8) interrupt distribution control utility.
* added can(4) socketcan implementation, a socket layer for CAN busses
* removed MKCRYPTO option and always include cryptography
* dc(1) import from OpenBSD (and replace the GNU version)
* Endian-Independent disklabel support DISKLABEL_EI
* pthread_dbg(3) removed from the base distribution
* improved compatiblity of NetBSD curses(3) with ncurses
* added libpanel(3) compatible with ncurses libpanel
* added ipsecif(4) for route-based VPNs
* made part of the network stack MP-safe
  * NET_MPSAFE kernel option is required to try
  * Only the components listed below are MP-safe for now
* WAPBL stability and performance improvements
* SD/MMC: Add support for SD UHS-I and MMC HS200.

Custom:

* USB system rework. added USB3 support.

The following networking components and drivers have been made MPSAFE:  

* Device drivers
  * vioif(4)
  * vmx(4)
  * wm(4)
  * ixg(4)
  * ixv(4)
* Layer 2
  * Ethernet (if_ethersubr.c)
  * bridge(4)
  * Fast forward (ipflow)
* Layer 3
  * Almost done but some components are still non-MP-safe
* Interfaces
  * gif(4)
  * ipsecif(4)
  * l2tp(4)
  * pppoe(4)
  * tun(4)
  * vlan(4)
* Packet filters
  * npf(7)
* Others
  * bpf(4)
  * ipsec(4)
  * opencrypto(9)
  * pfil(9)

* Reproducible build (link to blog)
* Dynamic tracing (DTrace) for kernel code (link to guide/intro)


amd64, i386:

* Meltdown fixes
* SMEP
* SMAP
* amd64 kernel W\^X
* PCI MSI/MSI-X support (except Xen)
* PCI extended configuration space support
* EFI bootloader
* added i386 GENERIC_PAE kernel that supports >4GB systems
* Debug Registers for debuggers

xen:

* kernel modules support

ARM:

* arm: Add FDT support.
* arm: Add driver for ARM Power State Coordination Interface (PSCI).
* sunxi: Add support for Allwinner A83T, H2+, and H3 SoCs.
* tegra: Add support for NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC.
* omap: Add support for AM335x GPIO.
* vexpress: Add support for ARM VExpress-A15 (QEMU).
XXX elaborate

MIPS:

* merge sbmips into evbmips

Other:

* TC-USB, TurboChannel USB support for ...
* mntva, driver for mntmn's VA2000 amiga graphics card

* bta2dpd - new Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile daemon
* iwm(4), a driver for Intel Wireless devices (AC7260, AC7265, AC3160...)
* ixg(4): X540, X550 and newer device support.
* ixv(4): Intel 10G Ethernet virtual function driver.
* nvme(4), a driver for NVMe hardware, ported from OpenBSD
* nouveau, an open source driver for modern nVidia graphics, ported from linux, available by default.
   (this is at the bottom because we mentioned it in 7.1 too)

Third party software:

* GCC 5.5 with Address Sanitizer and Undefined Behavior Sanitizer
* GDB 7.12
* GNU binutils 2.27
* Clang/LLVM 3.8.1
* OpenSSH 7.6
* OpenSSL 1.0.2k
* mdocml 1.14.1
* acpica 20170303
* ntp 4.2.8p11-o
* dhcpcd 7.0.5b
* Lua 5.3.4