The Linux 6.6 merge window has ended and Linux 6.6-rc1 has been released. There are many exciting new features in Linux 6.6, but there's one notable addition that once again didn't make the cut.
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=wgfL1rwyvELk2VwJTtiLNpwxTFeFtStLeAQ-2rTRd34eQ@mail.gmail.com/T/#u
Linux 6.6 highlights include EEVDF scheduler, work queue changes to favor CPUs on AMD chips, DRM CI experiment, KSMBD no longer experimental, HP BIOS setup driver, Qt6 port of kernel make xconfig, new sound hardware support, Stadia controller Shock support, added Intel IVSC driver, AMD Dynamic Boost Control, ReiserFS was declared obsolete, better protection against runaway NVIDIA proprietary driver behavior and finally added Intel Shadow Stack support. But the Bcachefs file system is not included.
Linus Torvalds wrote in the 6.6-rc1 announcement: "So far, all the stats on 6.6 look pretty normal - as usual, patches are mostly drivers (various stuff, but networking and GPUs are the two biggest areas), architecture updates are significantly increasing as the second, and we also have tools and documentation.
Obviously there are also core kernel updates (filesystem updates, networking, core VM, etc.) but hardware support - be it drivers or CPU - tends to eclipse all core changes in diffstat.
As always, there are always too many individual changes or developers to list during the merge window. We got 12k+ commits from 1700+ independent developers and did 800+ merges to bring it all together. This is actually pretty normal, it doesn't seem to be a very small nor a particularly large version. "
The stable version of Linux 6.6 is expected to be released in late October or early November.
Source:
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.6-rc1
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=wgfL1rwyvELk2VwJTtiLNpwxTFeFtStLeAQ-2rTRd34eQ@mail.gmail.com/T/#u