After the 2 week lengthy merge window, Linus Torvalds this afternoon launched the primary launch candidate of Linux 6.0. Over the following roughly two months the Linux 6.0 kernel will stabilize however already from my early testing on numerous programs it’s in good form and the options and efficiency are trying nice.
Linux 6.0 is trying excellent on the efficiency entrance with seeing nice uplift on high-end Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC servers in addition to AMD Threadripper whereas I will have extra desktop/laptop computer assessments from Linux 6.0 over the weeks forward. There was some very good and important efficiency enhancements.
Linus Torvalds codenamed Linux 6.0-rc1 the “Hurr durr I’ma ninja sloth” kernel.
I will have up my prolonged Linux 6.0 function overview tomorrow, however here’s a fast overview. Linux 6.0 brings continued driver additions for Intel Raptor Lake, new RISC-V extensions, assist for setting the system hostname by way of the “hostname=” kernel parameter, AMD Automated Mode Transition for Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, Intel Habana Labs Gaudi2 assist, the HEVC/H.265 interface has been promoted to steady, the brand new AMD Raphael audio driver, some early work on Intel Meteor Lake assist comparable to with audio, perf tooling for AMD Zen 4 IBS, Intel IPI virtualization for KVM, AMD x2AVIC for KVM, Intel SGX2 assist, run-time verification for security crucial programs, Ship Protocol v2 for Btrfs, massive scheduler enhancements, extra AMD Zen 4 preparations, continued AMD RDNA3 graphics enablement, and a few very good IO_uring enhancements. That is the short overview however general Linux 6.0 is a really thrilling kernel!
Linux 6.0 is a giant boy with having the best variety of information adjustments and new strains added in fairly some time… Multiple million strains of code had been added this cycle, partially resulting from auto-generated header information round new AMDGPU and Intel Habana Labs Gaudi2 assist. As compared the Linux 5.19 merge window noticed 789k strains of recent code. Linux 6.0 goes to be massive.
For as thrilling as Linux 6.0 adjustments are, there are a number of options not merged this weekend… The Rust for Linux patches have not but been merged… Hopefully subsequent cycle. The performance-enhancing MGLRU work additionally did not make it this cycle nor the Maple Tree work, however the hope is each of these options ought to be prepared for Linux 6.1. The Linux real-time “PREEMPT_RT” patches are additionally very near the end line however weren’t despatched in both for v6.0.
Linus Torvalds can also be conscious of some not too long ago introduced up Linux kernel crashes that look like attributed to the VirtIO merge and is already being labored via. Hopefully that may all be in fine condition for Linux 6.0-rc2 subsequent weekend.
Linus wrote within the Linux 6.0-rc1 announcement:
I truly hoped that we might get a number of the first rust infrastructure, and the multi-gen LRU VM, however neither of them occurred this time round. There’s all the time extra releases. However there’s lots of continued improvement just about all over, with the “shortlog” being a lot too lengthy to submit and thus – as all the time for rc1 notices – under solely accommodates my “merge log”. You may undoubtedly get a form of high-level overview by simply scanning that, however clearly it is price as soon as once more declaring that the folks talked about within the merge log are simply the maintainers I pull from, and there is greater than 1700 builders concerned while you begin trying on the full particulars within the git tree.
Keep tuned for my Linux 6.0 function write-up tomorrow and loads of Linux 6.0 kernel benchmarks to come back on Phoronix over the approaching weeks. Linux 6.0 steady ought to be out across the finish of September or early October.
