Linus Torvalds has announced the third release candidate (RC3) for Linux Kernel 6.14. In the Linux Kernel 6.14-rc3 announcement mail, Torvalds mentioned that Kernel 6.14-rc3 release is pretty normal. The first few weeks of development were a bit quiet, but now things are on track. There's nothing to worry about at this stage.
Table of Contents
Focus on Architecture Improvements
A significant chunk of this update focuses on architecture-specific code. In fact, about a third of the patch is related to it.
A lot of work has gone into improving how Linux works with different types of computer hardware. Key areas include:
- arm64 KVM fixes: A fair amount of fixes are centered around FP/SIMD/SVE. This is all about boosting virtualisation and performance on ARM64, especially when it comes to things like floating-point calculations and processing lots of data at once.
- UML virtio updates: User-Mode Linux virtualisation also gets some love, contributing to the architecture-heavy nature of this release.
Driver Updates and Device Management
Drivers are the bits of software that allow your computer to communicate with hardware. There's "new infrastructure for upcoming platform device handling, and some DRM and OF test updates".
This basically means better ways of managing devices, improved graphics support (thanks to Direct Rendering Manager), and more robust testing.
What's New in Linux Kernel 6.14 RC3?
KVM Enhancements
If you're using virtual machines, you'll be happy to hear that there have been numerous fixes and improvements to the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), especially on the ARM64 architecture.
Expect updates to things like FPSIMD/SVE state management, better timer handling, and simplified hypercalls (basically, how virtual machines talk to the host system). KVM on x86 also gets some love with updates related to Hyper-V and PSP module initialisation.
Networking Improvements
Networking is the backbone of modern computing, so it's great to see a focus on making things more robust and efficient.
A large number of networking fixes are included, such as the addition of "dev_net_rcu() helper" and the use of RCU (Read-Copy-Update) protection in various IPv4, IPv6, and related functions.
This helps to improve the reliability and speed of network communications. Plus, there are specific fixes for drivers and protocols like batman-adv, team, and vxlan.
bcachefs File System Updates
For those interested in file systems, bcachefs receives several fixes related to reflink pointers, journal pinning, b-tree node handling, and transaction restarts.
Other Noteworthy Updates
- LoongArch architecture-specific issues are addressed, particularly in KVM and related areas.
- Many USB device quirks are added or modified, suggesting compatibility improvements for a wide range of USB devices. For example, there is a USB_QUIRK_NO_LPM quirk for a Teclast device and a sony smartphone.
- Several fixes and improvements are included for the sched_ext scheduler extension.
Besides the big changes, there are also lots of small fixes all over the place! This includes improvements to networking, the core of the kernel, and regular driver fixes.
Most of these changes are under-the-hood improvements. Unless you're a Linux developer or someone who likes to tinker with their system, you probably won't notice a huge difference right away.
Try Linux Kernel 6.14 RC3
Unless you're a Linux expert, you don't need to do anything right now. This is a test release, and the final version of Linux Kernel 6.14 will include all these changes (and hopefully, no bugs!).
If you're feeling adventurous, you can download the release candidate and test it out, but be warned: it might have some rough edges. If you do test, please provide feedback!
You can download the latest Kernel 6.14-rc3 from the Kernel.org website or the Linus Torvalds's git tree.
