Linux Kernel 6.11 RC7 Released: A Look At The Fixes And Changes

Linus Torvalds released the seventh Candidate for Linux Kernel 6.11 (RC7), released on September 8, 2024. Although the development cycle is coming to an end, the Linux kernel 6.11-rc7 still contains a lot of fixes and improvements.

Despite rc7's extensive fixes, Linus Torvalds admits that this version is bigger than expected at this stage. Linus wrote in an RC7 release email : "rc7 is slightly larger than rc6 and rc5, both in terms of the number of commits and the actual size of the difference. This is not how it should work."

He also noted that there may be delays on 6.11 if there are more unexpected problems.

Let's take a closer look at some notable changes in this release.

Table of contents

- Important fixes and enhancements

• Build system improvements and regressions
• Uncertain release plan?
• Trial Linux kernel 6.11 RC7

Important fixes and enhancements

Address potential security issues:

• This release contains fixes for potential use-after-free vulnerabilities in the Binder driver, enhancing system security.
• A problem in the FUSE subsystem was fixed that did not use unsigned types for size truncation in getxattr/listxattr, thus closing possible security vulnerabilities.

Network Enhancement:

• Intel ice network drivers have received a series of updates, including improvements to XDP configuration processing, resetting streams, and preventing race conditions.
• The mctp-serial network driver benefits from the addition of new kunit tests, enhancing its reliability.

Graphics driver update:

• The AMDGPU driver receives updates to better handle synchronization of IPS (In-Plane Switch) mode and display timing.
• The Intel i915 graphics driver has been improved, including fixing display issues, enhancing GSC (GuC - Graphics Command Center) loading processing, and more.

File system and storage improvements:

• The Btrfs file system addresses fixes related to race conditions, qgroup processing, and partitioning device behavior.
• Fixed a bug related to zero_point initialization during inode creation in CIFS file system.

Other important fixes:

• This release solves several potential kernel crashes, including issues found in drivers such as nvmet-tcp and subsystems such as bpf.
• Fixed memory leak in the uio_hv_generic driver.

New and updated device support:

• Added support for Elgin, jg10309-01 SPI controllers.
• Realtek HD audio drivers have been updated to better support a wide range of laptop models.

Build system improvements and regressions

• Compared to previous stable versions (v6.10), a total of 21 bug improvements and 5 bug regressions were found in rc7.
• The number of build warnings decreased significantly, with 53 improvements and only 1 regression.
• Interestingly, when comparing rc7 with its direct predecessor (rc6), there are no new errors or warning regressions.

By the way, this reveals a positive trend that the number of build errors and warnings is significantly reduced compared to v6.10 .

Uncertain release plan?

Linus acknowledged the abnormal activity, but did not believe it was a reason for delaying release. However, the upcoming annual kernel maintainers summit could lead to a delay, although that is not a major issue.

The next kernel version merge window is also coming and may be held at the same time as the kernel maintainer summit.

Trial Linux kernel 6.11 RC7

In view of the unexpected large number of changes, Linus emphasizes the need to thoroughly test kernel 6.11 rc7.

Users and developers can test the kernel version 6.11-rc7 by downloading it from the Kernel.org website or Linus Torvalds' git tree and report any issues they have.

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