First Linux Kernel 6.5 Release Candidate Announced

Rohan Timalsina

July 27, 2023 - TuxCare expert team

Linux Torvalds has recently announced the availability of the first Release Candidate (RC) development milestone for the upcoming Linux kernel 6.5 series. The two-week merge window, which started with the release of Linux kernel 6.4 on June 25th, 2023, has now been officially closed. Linux kernel 6.5 is now available to download for an early preview and participate in the testing process.

New Features and Updates

Linux kernel 6.5 brings a range of new features and improvements that enhance the functionality and performance of the operating system. Some notable highlights include the addition of MIDI 2.0 support in ALSA, ACPI support for RISC-V, Landlock support for UML, improved support for AMD “Zen” systems, and the introduction of Intel TPMI support to the power capping subsystem, along with a TPMI interface driver for Intel RAPL. Furthermore, user-space support for the ARMv8.8 memcpy/memset instructions is now available.

In addition to these advancements, it focuses on improving support for specific hardware devices. This release promises better compatibility with Lenovo Yoga Book yb1-x90f/l and Nextbook Ares 8A tablets and introduces ACPI backlight quirks for Dell Studio 1569, Lenovo ThinkPad X131e (3371 AMD version), and Apple iMac11, 3 laptops. Furthermore, it enhances performance for the Btrfs file system and introduces SGX/HPE Ultraviolet support for Sub-NUMA clustering (SNC).

To ensure seamless integration with a wide range of hardware, Linux kernel 6.5 includes numerous new drivers. These drivers enable top-notch hardware support for various devices, such as the AHT20 temperature and humidity sensor, HP WMI sensors, and ROG Crosshair X670E Hero motherboard.

Regarding performance improvements, this kernel enhances the SMP scheduling’s load balancer to recognize SMT cores with more than one busy sibling. It also allows lower-priority CPUs to pull tasks, thereby minimizing unnecessary migrations. Furthermore, the “runnable boosting” feature in the EAS balancer has been implemented to improve CPU utilization for specific workloads. Additionally, improvements have been made to the journaling and block allocator subsystems, as well as the performance for parallel DIO overwrites on the EXT4 file system.

Availability of Linux Kernel 6.5

The final release of Linux kernel 6.5 is expected to arrive towards the end of August or early September 2023, depending on the number of Release Candidate (RC) milestones that Linux Torvalds will announce. If there are only seven RCs, the release will be available on August 27th. However, if eight RCs are announced, they will be released on September 3rd.

While expecting the final release, if you are eager to explore Linux kernel 6.5, you can download the first Release Candidate (RC1) milestone from Linus Torvald’s git tree or the kernel.org website.

Conclusion

It’s essential to note that this version is still in development and should not be installed or used on a production machine. Linux system administrators are encouraged to explore the new features and improvements in Linux kernel 6.5 and actively participate in the testing process. Your valuable feedback and contributions will help refine the kernel and ensure its stability and performance.

The sources for this article include a story from 9to5Linux.

Summary