Linux Kernel 6.18-rc4 released
Linus Torvalds recently released the fourth candidate version of Linux Kernel 6.18 (rc4), marking a period of relative calm in development before his upcoming conference travel. The release itself is characteristic, with a moderate number of changes that primarily focus on addressing driver issues within graphics, networking, and sound drivers. While non-driver updates also touched various areas such as core networking, filesystems, and kernel architecture adjustments, the majority of the modifications were minor fixes to resolve trivial problems.
The change log provides a detailed account of contributions from multiple developers tackling diverse issues ranging from potential memory leaks to specific driver functionality fixes within the kernel infrastructure. The communication regarding upcoming events related to the kernel maintainer summit and the holiday season is also acknowledged by Torvalds, who emphasizes that these activities will not disrupt the 6.18 release timeline. Instead, Torvalds expresses his confidence in the project's trajectory and his readiness to make necessary adjustments for the upcoming 6.19 release.
The development process appears to be stable and promising as the release moves forward. A collaborative effort is evident from the detailed change log outlining contributions from various developers aimed at refining kernel functionalities. The names of contributors, along with their credentials, are highlighted, showcasing a collective dedication to improving the kernel's performance through targeted updates.
A thorough examination of the change log reveals numerous fixes and enhancements to address specific issues within various subsystems. Abdun Nihaal fixed memory leaks in networking drivers, Akash Goel made memory access safer, and Akhil P Oommen fixed problems with the GMU firmware parser for the drm/msm/a6xx drivers.
Additionally, several developers contributed to fixing issues related to SPDX header compliance within multiple drm/amdgpu files (Alex Deucher), introducing a workaround for HDR in the drm/amd/display subsystem for specific eDP configurations (Alex Hung), and refining memory mappings within VFIO self-tests (Alex Mastro). Other key contributions include Andrii Melnychenko adding the seqadj extension for natted connections in the netfilter code, Chuck Lever creating new actions for handling time delegation in NFSD, and Paolo Abeni making updates to improve the reliability of MultiPath TCP (MPTCP).
The collaborative effort among developers is evident from the collective contributions aimed at improving kernel robustness across multiple subsystems. The changelog highlights the ongoing dedication of contributors to addressing bugs and enhancing overall kernel performance through targeted updates. As a result, the development trajectory appears stable and promising for the release of Linux Kernel 6.18.
Linux kernel 6.18-rc4 released
Linux kernel version 6.18-rc4 is now available:
Full source: https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-6.18-rc4.tar.gz
Patch: https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/p/v6.18-rc4/v6.17
You can view the summary of the changes at the following URL:
https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/ds/v6.18-rc4/v6.18-rc3
