Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux Kernel 6.13 Release Candidate
Some of the highlights of the Linux 6.13 kernel series include support to run Linux in a protected virtual machine (a.k.a. realm) under the Arm CCA and the user Guarded Control Stack (GCS), support for 6-node sub-NUMA clustering on Intel, a new ACPI backlight quirk for Apple MacbookPro11,2 and Air7,2, and a new feature in the character device uAPI to notify the user-space about changes triggered by in-kernel users.
Linux kernel 6.13 also makes the amd-pstate cpufreq driver the default on some newer AMD Epyc processors, adds support for thermal thresholds that can be added and removed from user space via netlink along with a related library update, adds PMU support for Intel ArrowLake-H CPUs, and improves the performance of the Btrfs file system by reducing lock contention when traversing extent buffers and extent tree lock contention when searching for inline backref.
Update (by Roy)
LWN and LKML:
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Kernel prepatch 6.13-rc1
Linus has released 6.13-rc1 and closed the merge window for this release. ""And for once - possibly the first time ever - it looks like the release cycle doesn't clash horribly up with the holiday season, and we'll have time both to stabilize this release, _and_ the work for 6.14 won't be starting until well into January.""
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Linux 6.13-rc1
So two weeks have passed, the merge window is over, and -rc1 is pushed out.
And for once - possibly the first time ever(*) - it looks like the release cycle doesn't clash horribly up with the holiday season, and we'll have time both to stabilize this release, _and_ the work for 6.14 won't be starting until well into January. Sure, I'd not be at all surprised if 6.14 ends up being smaller than average just because people hopefully take a rest over the holidays, but that sounds like a good thing. I don't think we need to stretch the release timing out, but we most certainly can just relax a bit and make the next release smaller.
Anyway, below is my "short mergelog" as usual, since the full log is way too big. I feel like we had more core VFS changes than usual, but that obviously doesn't really show up in the diff stats, since those are - as always - dominated by drivers.
Linus
(*) Almost certainly not the first time, but it feels like we always tend to hit Christmas head on with some timing issue.
Later arrival:
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Linux Kernel 6.13 Released – Avoiding Holiday Season Clash
In a rare occurrence, the Linux kernel development cycle has aligned favorably with the holiday season this year. Linus Torvalds, the creator and principal developer of the Linux kernel, announced the release of Linux 6.13-rc1 on Sunday, December 1, 2024, marking the end of the merge window for this development cycle.