Linux Kernel 6.13 RC5: A Tiny Release For A Holiday Week

Linus Torvalds released the fifth candidate for Linux kernel 6.13 on December 29, 2024 (RC5). The 6.13 RC5 is smaller than previous versions, indicating that many developers take vacations during the holidays. There are fewer than 100 changes in RC5, focusing mainly on bug fixes and secondary enhancements.

Torvalds expressed satisfaction with the slowdown in development during the holidays. He encouraged developers to continue to focus on stability as the kernel moves towards final release.

In the official release notes for Kernel 6.13 RC5, Linus Torvalds wrote:

Another week passed and I was happy to report that it was obvious that most people seemed to be enjoying the holidays because rc5 was very small. We have fewer than a hundred non-merger commits this week, which is almost unheard of. Good job (or not enough).

Catalog

- Main highlights

But fixes and improvements
• File System
  Network
  Driver
  Memory and DMA
Try Linux kernel 6.13 RC5

Main Highlights

1. Size and Stability

RC5 is one of the smallest versions to date.
It contains less than 100 non-merged commits.
The focus is on bug fixes and stability improvements, not new features.

2. Btrfs file system improvement

Fixed use-after-free issue during a copy-write (COW) operation.
Better handle memory mapped writes when exchanging files are activated.
Enhance performance by allowing interrupt switching activation.
Atomic improvements when quota is enabled.

3. DMA Engine Enhancement

Updated Tegra, Loongson2 and AMD QDMA support.
Improved error handling and hardware-specific compatibility fixes.

4. Audio and sound updates

ALSA fix, including support for DMA buffer management.
Realtek and Intel-specific sound card driver updates.

5. Peripheral device support

Fixed HDMI PHY dependencies and USB PHY initialization issues.
Updated I2C controller and NAND driver.

6. Power management improvements

Fixed a bug in the power driver.
Improved error handling of battery charging circuits.

7. Tracking and debugging enhancement

Updated tracking mechanism for improved reliability.
Fixed kernel document warning.

8. Architecture-specific changes

Intel's Perf subsystem has updated new CPU architectures such as Clearwater Forest.
PowerPC specific fix for VAS operation.
x86 update to resolve the issue of missing ENDBRANCH directive.

But fixes and improvements

File System

BtrfsReceived multiple stability fixes including:

• Avoid use-after-free error.
• Enhance quota management.
• Prevent core exclusiveness during swap file activation.

Network

• The issue of reusing delayed file handles was fixed in the SMB protocol.
• The update in NFS restores the callback function of NFSv4.0.

Driver

• Enhanced I2C, DMA and HDMI drivers for improved hardware compatibility.
• USB PHY initialize adjustments to prevent power problems.

Memory and DMA

• DMA engine tweaks for Loongson, AMD and Tegra platforms.
• Error handling improvements to prevent crashes.

Try Linux kernel 6.13 RC5

The next few weeks will focus on testing and bug fixes, as the final release of Linux kernel 6.13 is about to be released. Developers and users are encouraged to thoroughly test RC5 and report any issues.

You can download the Kernel 6.13-rc5 source code from the official Linux kernel archive or Linus Torvalds git tree .

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