Notable changes this week include useful new resources for the network component and the start of preparation for updating the stable kernel series. Here are all the details…

Kernel

The INF_TEST kernel series has been updated to 6.8.0-110 on Jammy and Noble.

We are currently preparing to update the stable INF series in the next few weeks.

Network component

The LCFG network component has some new resources which can be used to set site-wide defaults for the netmask, gateway and gateway metric. If specified they are applied to all network interfaces on the system which can be very helpful for simplifying the management of a mixture of machines with single interfaces, bonded interfaces and bridges.

• The default_netmask defaults to 24 (255.255.255.0 in old money) which will be appropriate for most sites.
• The default_gateway resource can be used to specify a gateway address that should be used no matter what the interface name (e.g. eth0, bond0 or br0). This needs to be used wisely, applying it to a system that has interfaces on a variety of VLANs could cause problems. For compatibility, this defaults to the value of the old gateway resource, the new name has been added to clarify the purpose of the resource.
• The default_gatewaymetric resource can be used to set a metric value for the route, it can be any positive integer. This is only likely to be needed when there are other services maintaining routes (e.g. rdisc or bird).

The lcfg-network package provides a new check_netplan script. This is intended to look for common mistakes which might mean a valid netplan generates a broken network configuration. It might currently be DICE-specific but is provided in case it’s useful for other sites.

PackageKit

Following the recent announcement of a security issue in the PackageKit service it is now masked out by default and the packages are specifically removed. In LCFG all software is managed through the LCFG apt component using apteryx so we do not expect this to cause any technical issues, please let us know if you spot any potential package dependency problems though.

DHCP component

The LCFG dhcpd component has been improved to make it more robust when a subnet is misconfigured. Previously, if there was missing or invalid data this might result in the component completely failing to update the dhcpd.conf file.

iptables

The LCFG_OPTIONS_IPTABLES package option is now included by the lcfg/options/iptables.h LCFG header to ensure all the necessary packages are installed. The package option also now provides the conntrack connection tracking userspace tools.

Changes to headers and package lists

Members of the Informatics Computing team can browse all the changes to the headers and package lists.

Weekly Changes – 27/04/2026 / LCFG Project by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0