Linux Kernel 6.12 RC2 Released

Linus Torvalds, the leading developer of Linux kernel, released the second candidate (RC2) for Linux kernel 6.12. Linux Kernel 6.12 RC2 brings various improvements and bug fixes in various areas of the kernel.

Catalog

• Notable changes and fixes
  • Rename global header file
  • File system update
  • Network and Driver Improvements
  • Driver update
  • Keeper Communication
  • Other fixes and improvements
• Try Linux kernel 6.12 RC2
• Conclusion

Extremely large RC2

Linus Torvalds noted that the second version candidate (rc2) is usually smaller because developers will take a break after the merge window. However, this version does not follow this pattern, it contains a lot of changes and updates. Despite its large scale, these changes are consistent with historical trends, indicating that larger rc2 is not uncommon.

Notable changes and fixes

Rename global header file

A major change to this version is to rename the global header file asm/unaligned.h to linux/unaligned.h. This change, along with some rollbacks, stands out very well in diffstat. It is worth noting that the larger peak in diffstat is caused by folio document updates rather than code changes.

File system update

File system changes account for about a quarter of the difference, making it slightly larger than usual. This could be a random time effect, with more driver updates expected in the coming weeks.

Some notable changes include:

• Btrfs (B-tree file system): Multiple fixes, including buffer overflow detection and invalid clone operation fixes.
• EXT4 (Fourth Extended File System): Fixed "One-Difference" issue and tracked more accurately dentry updates during certain operations.

Network and Driver Improvements

Network and driver updates are always very important in Linux kernel versions. This RC2 contains several fixes for a variety of hardware and network components:

• Ethernet Driver: Fixed memory leak in lantiq_etop driver, as well as memory leak fix for cachefiles component.
• Bluetooth Stack: Some improvements have been made to the stability and security of Bluetooth communication.
• General Network Stack: Helper functions were added to better manage packet segmentation and processing.

Driver update

As is often the case in kernel development, driver updates form a large part of this candidate version. Although the file system changes are slightly larger, more driver updates are expected in subsequent RCs.

Some notable driver improvements include:

• Audio Driver:ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) driver update includes new features for devices such as HP Pavilion and Huawei MateBook.
• Display Driver: AMD display driver provides solutions to specific eDP (embedded display port) problems.
• RISC-V architecture: Fixed a bug related to kernel stack size when KASAN is enabled, thereby improving performance and debugging capabilities.

Keeper Communication

Torvalds emphasizes the importance of clear and concise communication in merge submission messages. He asked the maintainer to use active voice and imperative sentences to make the message more direct and easier to understand. Other fixes and improvements

This RC2 version contains additional fixes for various subsystems:

ACPI and Power Management
• : Improved support for various hardware configurations, especially Dell systems.
Scheduler fix
• : Resolved the stress peak caused by competition conditions.
Self-test update
• : Several improvements have been made in the kernel self-test to ensure better coverage and stability in the test environment.
Try Linux kernel 6.12 RC2

Users can download the second version of 6.12 from the

Kernel.org

website or Linus Torvalds' git tree for testing. Please note that these development versions should not be used in production systems because they are experimental.

Conclusion

The Linux kernel 6.12-rc2 version brings a lot of updates and fixes to improve kernel performance, stability and security. Although this release is larger than a typical rc2 version, these changes are fully compliant with historical specifications and are crucial for the ongoing development of the Linux kernel.

As the development cycle progresses, more updates and improvements are expected to bring the kernel closer to the final version.

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