So we had quite the calm week since rc7, and I see no reason to delay
5.13. The shortlog for the week is tiny, with just 88 non-merge
commits (and a few of those are just reverts). It's a fairly random
mix of fixes, and being so small I'd just suggest people scan the
appended shortlog for what happened.

Of course, if the last week was small and calm, 5.13 overall is
actually fairly large. In fact, it's one of the bigger 5.x releases,
with over 16k commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2k
developers. But it's a "big all over" kind of thing, not something
particular that stands out as particularly unusual. Some of the extra
size might just be because 5.12 had that extra rc week.

And with 5.13 out the door, that obviously means that the merge window
for 5.14 will be starting tomorrow. I already have a few pull requests
for it pending, but as usual, I'd ask people to give the final 5.13 at
least a quick test before moving on to the exciting new pending
stuff..

Linus

Headline features in this release include the "misc" group controller, multiple sources for trusted keys, kernel stack randomization on every system call, support for Clang control-flow integrity enforcement, the ability to call kernel functions directly from BPF programs, minor-fault handling for userfaultfd(), the removal of /dev/kmem, the Landlock security module, and, of course, thousands of cleanups and fixes.

Linus Torvalds has released version 5.13 of the Linux kernel after a very smooth development process that required just seven release candidates.

“So we had quite the calm week since rc7, and I see no reason to delay 5.13,” wrote the Linux maintainer-in-chief in his weekly State of the Kernel post.

Torvalds rated the new release as “fairly large”.

“In fact, it’s one of the bigger 5.x releases, with over 16k commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2k developers.

“But it’s a ‘big all over’ kind of thing, not something particular that stands out as particularly unusual. Some of the extra size might just be because 5.12 had that extra rc week.”

"5.13 overall is actually fairly large," Linus Torvalds posted on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, calling it "one of the bigger 5.x releases, with over 16,000 commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2,000 developers. But it's a "big all over" kind of thing, not something particular that stands out as particularly unusual..."

Linus Torvalds announced the Linux Kernel 5.13 after few weeks of development and available for general usage with new features, improvements, and better hardware support.

As per Linus Torvalds for Kernel 5.13

The last week was small and calm, 5.13 overall is actually fairly large. In fact, it’s one of the bigger 5.x releases, with over 16k commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2k developers

This tutorial will be helpful for beginners to install kernel 5.13 in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.10, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, and LinuxMint 20.1.

After a few months of development, Linux Kernel 5.13 is finally ready for prime time. It brings to the table a plethora of huge improvements, most notably the preliminary support for Apple’s M1 platform.

Alongside the support for the M1 chip, we also get a lot of other exciting improvements. Read on to find out more and see the key changes in this release.

[...]

The most notable change—the new Apple M1 support is the first step to allowing these exciting new machines to be powered with Linux.

While we already covered that Linux Kernel 5.13 will be the first Kernel with early support for Apple M1, it is finally here.

Please bear in mind that this does not mean that you can just fire Linux up on a M1. Instead, this change is extremely limited, with only a UART serial console currently supported.

"So over the years the seven release candidates have become the 'expected number' when things go normally, and then occasionally we have an extra week and an extra release candidate if there's some question about late fixes," he added.

"The last time we had more than that was 4.15, which went to nine, but that's over three years ago, so it's rare.

"So 5.13 looks normal. Of course, there might be some surprises lurking that we just didn't catch, but on the whole it looks smooth, particularly considering how big the merge window was."

The previous release, Linux 5.12, added support for the ACRN hypervisor designed for IoT & embedded devices, Playstation DualSense & Nintendo 64 game controllers, as well as Nintendo 64 data cartridges, implemented dynamic thermal power management via a subsystem that allows the power usage of groups of devices to be capped to meet thermal constraints, and said goodbye to O-profile, replaced by perf events, among many other changes.

Announcing the release on the Linux kernel making list Linus Torvalds commented that: “[Linux] 5.13 overall is actually fairly large. In fact, it’s one of the bigger 5.x releases, with over 16k commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2k developers”.

What makes the latest Linux kernel update so big?

Read on to find out.

The latest Linux kernel release, version 5.13, has become the first official kernel to support Apple M1-powered devices.

In the works for two months, the larger-than-usual release had a relatively uneventful development cycle. For reasons that continue to remain a mystery, the codename for this release has been changed to "Opossums on Parade".

In addition to the usual round of improvements, the highlight of the release is initial support for Apple’s homebrewed Arm-based M1 system on a chip (SoC), thanks primarily to the efforts of Hector Martin’s Asahi Linux project.

Another Linux Kernel release is out now with Linux 5.13 bringing with it, amongst plenty of other things, initial and early support for the new Apple M1 chip.

In the announcement Linus Torvalds mentioned that while they had a "calm week" since the seventh release candidate, the Linux Kernel 5.13 is "actually fairly large" and "one of the bigger 5.x releases" with over sixteen thousand commits from over two thousand developers so it's a "big all over" sort of thing with new features , fixes and improvements everywhere.

It took a few months, but Linux has now received support for M1 Macs with Linux Kernel 5.13. This comes after several months of testing, including its Release Candidate version first being announced more than a month ago.

The new 5.13 Kernel adds support for several chips based on the ARM architecture — including the Apple M1. This means that users will be able to run Linux natively on the new M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24-inch iMac.

It was already possible to run Linux on M1 Macs via virtual machines and even with a port from Corellium, but none of these alternatives run natively — which means they don’t take advantage of the maximum performance of the M1 chip. However, some developers had been working to include native support for M1 in the Linux Kernel, and now this has become a reality.

As spotted by Phoronix, Linux 5.13 brings “initial but early support for the Apple M1 with basic support but not yet accelerated graphics and a lot more to iron out moving ahead.”

The newest update of the Linux kernel, version 5.13, has been released with support for the Apple Silicon system-on-chip, the M1.

Previously available in May as a release candidate for public testing, the final version of Linux 5.13 has been released. Announced by Linus Torvolds on Monday, the newest version is said to be one of the bigger releases in the version 5 range, with over 16 thousand commits made by over 2 thousand developers.

For Mac users, the key addition to the kernel is support for a number of ARM-based chips, which crucially includes the M1. The new kernel is therefore able to be run natively on Apple Silicon hardware, including the M1 Mac mini and the 24-inch iMac.

While the ability to use M1 is included, Phoronix reports there's still more work to be done, including adding support for accelerated graphics. Other changes include a variety of updated drivers, architecture and file system improvements, and changes to process handling and tooling.

A year after Apple announced its transition to Apple silicon, Linux now officially supports the only chip to have been released since that date — the Apple M1. As of the newly released Linux 5.1.3, early support for the chip has been added. But there is still some work to be done.

First reported by Phoronix, the new Linux update adds initial support for Apple's M1 chip, but that doesn't mean that everything will work to its full potential. Accelerated graphics aren't yet enabled, for example.

The Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Archive provides the new kernel packages via DEB files.

The mainline build kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use.
And it’s “incorrectly” built with updated libc6 library required. So it WILL NOT install on Ubuntu 20.10, Ubuntu 20.04 and earlier.

For those prefer using a graphical tool, see this tool to install the latest Kernel.

Apple changed the game last year when it put its own chip in its new Macs. Last month it changed the game even more by adding the M1 to its new iPad Pros. Now, the game is changing again. Thanks to Linux Kernel 5.1.3, Linux has picked up native support for use on M1 Macs.

Linus Torvalds has released Linux kernel 5.13 after seven release candidates. According to Torvalds, “5.13 overall is actually fairly large. In fact, it's one of the bigger 5.x releases, with over 16k commits (over 17k if you count merges), from over 2k developers. But it's a "big all over" kind of thing, not something particular that stands out as particularly unusual.”

After several months of development, Linux Torvalds finally announced the latest Linux kernel – Kernel 5.13 release on Sunday. The chief maintainer of Linux was quoted saying, “So we had quite the calm week since rc7, and I see no reason to delay 5.13.”

One of the important updates with this new release is the native support of Apple M1 silicon devices. Even though this support is still at its formative stage and some core features are still not included (no accelerated graphics), you can expect more updates in future kernel releases.

Tip: The M1 is the first System on a Chip (SoC) designed by Apple specifically for use in Macs. It represents Apple’s shift from Intel processors, which the Cupertino corporation has been using since 2006. Some of the devices already using the M1 chip include MacBook Air (M1, 2020), MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020), iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021), iPad Pro, 11-inch, etc.

Linux kernel 5.13 brings forth a new “Landlock” security module used alongside the existing modules like SELinux. Landlock’s purpose is to restrict ambient rights for a collection of processes running on the system. For example, global filesystem access would be considered a security risk. Still, on security, this new kernel allows keys from sources other than Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is not present on all systems. Trusted keys are now managed in the ASN.1 format.

The Linux community prides itself on the fact that Linux runs on anything from a mundane smart thermometer, Android smartphones, the smart system in your car, the server powering your favourite website or streaming platform and now we can add Apple’s M1 onto that extensive list. The latest kernel release version 5.13 comes with preliminary official M1 support.

The Linux choice

I don’t normally cover Linux Kernel releases because I consider them to be too nerdy for the ordinary casual reader but everyone is raving about how Apple’s M1 architecture is. You see when it comes to personal computing Linux is the odd one out. Unlike operating systems such as Windows and macOS that come preinstalled by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), the bulk of Linux personal computer installations you see out there are a personal choice that is added after one has bought their computer.

After seven release candidates, Linus Torvalds decided to release the Linux kernel 5.13. The week after rc7 was pretty quiet, which led him to no longer hold back Linux 5.13. With more than 17,000 commits including merges, it is one of the largest releases in the 5.x series. Over 2000 developers contributed to the release. Nevertheless, Torvalds reassured in his release note that, despite its size, there was nothing really “outstandingly unusual” about it. He suspects the size increase in the extra week of the rc8 from Linux 5.12, which delayed the merge window from 5.13. Between the lines this means that additional patches and merges have built up due to this extra week. These have now also been incorporated into Linux 5.13.