SQLite 3.45 has been released, and it brings several improvements to the popular SQL database library. One major enhancement is the optimization of the SQLITE_DIRECT_OVERFLOW_READ feature, which is now enabled by default. This optimization can significantly improve the read performance for applications that heavily rely on SQLite and read large BLOBs or strings. Another, perhaps more exciting update in SQLite 3.45 is the rewriting of all JSON functions to utilize the JSONB format. The JSONB version of SQLite’s JSON functions offers several times better performance compared to the existing JSON support within SQLite.

JSONB is a new internal-use binary representation of JSON that is stored as an SQL BLOB. This format allows SQLite’s internal binary representation of JSON to be directly stored in the database, eliminating the overhead of parsing and rendering JSON when reading and updating JSON values. Furthermore, the JSONB format takes up slightly less disk space than text JSON.

Source: Phoronix.

Libvirt, a virtualization API managing virtualization on Linux, has released version 10.0. This update brings several new features, particularly in its QEMU support.

One notable addition in libvirt 10.0 is the postcopy-preempt migration capability. This feature allows for faster migration of memory pages by ensuring that the destination reads them before they are migrated from the source. Regarding QEMU, libvirt 10.0 introduces support for mapping I/O threads to virtqueues of virtio-blk devices. It also provides automatic resizing of block-device-backed disks to match the full size of the device. Additionally, libvirt 10.0 includes automatic selection and binding of VFIO variant drivers, as well as a runtime configuration option for nbdkit.

Other improvements in libvirt 10.0 include enhancements to the migration XML usage when persisting VM on the destination. It also simplifies non-shared storage migration to raw block devices, supports hotplug/unplug of PCI devices within the test driver, and includes various bug fixes.

Source: Phoronix.

OpenTofu, the open source fork of Terraform, has reached a significant milestone with the announcement of its general availability. The project, now under the Linux Foundation, is ready for production use after four months of development by over five dozen developers. OpenTofu offers a straightforward migration path for Terraform users and showcases the value of open source.

The release of OpenTofu 1.6 introduces several important features, including advanced testing capabilities for improved stability, an enhanced S3 state backend with new authentication methods, and a new provider and module registry. Additionally, the release includes hundreds of performance enhancements, bug fixes, and other improvements.

OpenTofu has gained significant traction in the community, with dozens of developers contributing, hundreds of active community members, thousands of GitHub followers, and support from corporate backers and technology partners such as CloudFlare, BuildKite, GitLab, and Oracle.

Looking ahead, OpenTofu 1.7 is set to introduce even more community-requested features that are not available in Terraform. These features include client-side state encryption for heightened security in regulated environments, parameterizable backends, providers, and modules for more readable code, and third-party extensibility through a plugin system for new state backends.

The general availability of OpenTofu marks a important achievement for the project and the open source community.

Source: Linux Foundation.