About 7.2 Changes/Features…
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(06/22)
⇒ Linux 7.2 sched_ext Continues Working Toward Sub-Scheduler Support
Merged last week for the Linux 7.2 kernel were all of the sched_ext changes for this extensible scheduler support that allows loading BPF programs from user-space for handling scheduling tasks. Linux 7.2 continues building out sched_ext's sub-scheduler support.
⇒ OneXPlayer Configuration Driver Merged For Linux 7.2 Along With Other New Hardware
The HID subsystem updates have landed in the Linux 7.2 kernel with some treats that will excite Linux gamers and other desktop users.
⇒ USB4STREAM Merged For Linux 7.2 To Quickly Send Data Between USB4 Connected Systems
As part of today's USB/Thunderbolt subsystem updates for the ongoing Linux 7.2 kernel merge window, USB4STREAM was merged as a nifty and exciting addition to opening up some interesting USB4 connnectivity use-cases for high speed, low latency data transfers.
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(06/23)
⇒ Linux 7.2 RISC-V Reduces Kernel Startup Overhead, Eswin SoC Support By Default
Along with the many x86/x86_64 improvements and some ARM64 architecture improvements (albeit slowed down by the AI/LLM noise affecting the development pace), the RISC-V architecture changes were merged last week for the ongoing Linux 7.2 kernel development.
⇒ Linux 8250/16550 UART Serial Driver Seeing Some Modernization Work In 2026
The Linux 8250 serial driver as the universal/legacy driver for 8250 and 16550 type serial ports has been seeing some modernization work recently with a number of 8250 serial patches having now been merged for the Linux 7.2 kernel.
⇒ EROFS With Linux 7.2 Better Handles Large Sparse AI Datasets, More Efficient I/O
The EROFS open-source read-only file-system has some nice enhancements in place for the Linux 7.2 kernel.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Showing Some Unexpected & Nice Performance Gains On AMD EPYC Sorano
While the Linux 7.2 merge window doesn't wrap up until this weekend as the feature cut-off for new material, I have already begun some early benchmarks of the code currently staged for this next version of the Linux kernel. Linux 7.2 already was looking quite exciting with cache aware scheduling and other exciting new features while an unexpected surprise in my early testing this week was seeing some local network/socket performance improvements.
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(06/24)
⇒ Linux 7.2 Ready With IMA and EVM Post-Quantum ML-DSA Signature Support
The integrity subsystem changes merged last week for the Linux 7.2 kernel include support now for IMA and EVM post-quantum ML-DSA signature support.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Protects Against Crafted Perf Data From Going Rogue
With the help of Claude Opus 4.6, the Linux 7.2 kernel added protections to fend off specially crafted or corrupted perf data for the perf tool that could cause a number of issues for the running system.
⇒ "So Many AI-Fueled Fixes" Means No New ARM64 KVM Features For Linux 7.2
The KVM virtualization-related changes were merged a few days ago for the ongoing Linux 7.2 kernel merge window. While there are a number of features/improvements for AMD and Intel virtualization as well as the likes of s390 and RISC-V, there aren't any new features on ARM64. The lack of ARM64 feature work this cycle is being attributed to "so many AI-fueled fixes" swamping the ARM Linux developers.
⇒ F2FS Integrates FSERROR Reporting, Reduces Memory Footprint In Linux 7.2
The Flash-Friendly File-System (F2FS) changes have landed for Linux 7.2.
⇒ NTFS3 Driver Sees Bug Fixes & Minor Improvements With Linux 7.2
While the new NTFS file-system driver merged for Linux 7.1 and has seen more improvements for Linux 7.2, for now at least the NTFS3 kernel driver continues to be maintained with new fixes and improvements. NTFS3 is the driver that was upstreamed to the Linux kernel a few years ago back during the pandemic by Paragon Software
⇒ MGLRU Improvement Yielding Nice Gains On Linux 7.2: MongoDB 30~100% Higher Throughput
The many memory management "MM" related improvements were recently merged to Git for the Linux 7.2 kernel. As typical most kernel cycles, some of the low-level improvements can yield nice efficiency wins and better performance in different areas.
Enjoy-ID!
Enjoy-IT!> Per terminus, ad terminal
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(06/24)
⇒ Linux 7.2 Ready With IMA and EVM Post-Quantum ML-DSA Signature Support
The integrity subsystem changes merged last week for the Linux 7.2 kernel include support now for IMA and EVM post-quantum ML-DSA signature support.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Protects Against Crafted Perf Data From Going Rogue
With the help of Claude Opus 4.6, the Linux 7.2 kernel added protections to fend off specially crafted or corrupted perf data for the perf tool that could cause a number of issues for the running system.
⇒ "So Many AI-Fueled Fixes" Means No New ARM64 KVM Features For Linux 7.2
The KVM virtualization-related changes were merged a few days ago for the ongoing Linux 7.2 kernel merge window. While there are a number of features/improvements for AMD and Intel virtualization as well as the likes of s390 and RISC-V, there aren't any new features on ARM64. The lack of ARM64 feature work this cycle is being attributed to "so many AI-fueled fixes" swamping the ARM Linux developers.
⇒ F2FS Integrates FSERROR Reporting, Reduces Memory Footprint In Linux 7.2
The Flash-Friendly File-System (F2FS) changes have landed for Linux 7.2.
⇒ NTFS3 Driver Sees Bug Fixes & Minor Improvements With Linux 7.2
While the new NTFS file-system driver merged for Linux 7.1 and has seen more improvements for Linux 7.2, for now at least the NTFS3 kernel driver continues to be maintained with new fixes and improvements. NTFS3 is the driver that was upstreamed to the Linux kernel a few years ago back during the pandemic by Paragon Software
⇒ MGLRU Improvement Yielding Nice Gains On Linux 7.2: MongoDB 30~100% Higher Throughput
The many memory management "MM" related improvements were recently merged to Git for the Linux 7.2 kernel. As typical most kernel cycles, some of the low-level improvements can yield nice efficiency wins and better performance in different areas.
With the help of Claude Opus 4.6, …
Michael, please, where's the "Claude Opus 4.6" context? …
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(06/25)
⇒ KSMBD Adds SMB2 Compression Support In Linux 7.2
Merged back in Linux 5.15 in 2021 was KSMBD as an in-kernel SMB3 file server. There hasn't been much KSMBD news to report on recently but for Linux 7.2 there is now SMB2 compression support.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Staging Still Working To Tame The Realtek RTL8723BS "Beast Of A Driver"
Way back in 2017 for the Linux 4.12 kernel the Realtek rtl8723bs WiFi driver was added to the kernel's staging area. Nearly a decade later, it's still being cleaned-up to suit the more rigorous non-staging area of the kernel in the formal networking subsystem. For Linux 7.2, the staging pull request is once again dominated by clean-ups to this Realtek WiFi driver.
⇒ Linux Cache Aware Scheduling Extended For Even Better Performance: Up To 360% In MySQL
Cache Aware Scheduling is one of the most exciting kernel innovations to land in Linux this year. While it was finally merged last week to Linux 7.2, a new patch series today is already working to extend Cache Aware Scheduling and is showing some exciting performance improvements.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Drops Ancient PROFIBUS Driver: Ported From SCO Unix In 1998, Unused For Years
Linux 7.2 is continuing the trend of removing obsolete hardware drivers for which the code hasn't seen any maintenance in years and there are no believed users left of said drivers, especially those that would be running modern mainline versions of the Linux kernel. The char/misc changes merged dropped two more obsolete drivers from the Linux source tree.
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26/06/26
⇒ Linux 7.2 Adds New Driver For Wacom W9000 Pen-Enabled Touchscreens
The input subsystem changes were merged this week for Linux 7.2, which is seeing its merge window wrap up on Sunday. Most notable with the input updates is the introduction of the "wacom_w9000" for supporting newer, pen-enabled touchscreens.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Fixes Where PCIe Devices Could Be Inadvertently Restricted To 2.5 GT/s
The PCI/PCIe subsystem changes have been merged this week as we approach the end of the Linux 7.2 merge window.
The PCI code has lifted a 2.5GT/s speed restriction in the PCIe failed-link retraining code to avoid a situation where a link could be restricted to 2.5GT/s after hot-plug changes to the PCIe device.
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06/28
⇒ Linux 7.2 Surpasses More Than 43 Million Lines In The Kernel Tree
Today marks the last day of the Linux 7.2 merge window with Linux 7.2-rc1 due out later today. With the many new features and improvements merged over the past week since the Linux 7.1 stable debut, the Linux kernel source tree now exceeds 43 million lines.
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06/29
⇒ Linux 7.2 On Threadripper Shows Some Nice I/O Improvements & Faster Poll, Some Regressions
I have begun testing out Linux 7.2 on more hardware following the winding down of the merge window and culminating with yesterday's Linux 7.2-rc1 release. Today's tests are looking at how Linux 7.2 in its early development state is comparing to Linux 7.1 stable on AMD Ryzen Threadripper.
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06/30
⇒ New Linux Driver Posted To Enable Keyboard Support On M3 MacBooks
While Linux 7.2 introduces the ability to boot on Apple M3 Macs, it's not yet remotely useful for end-users wanting to use an Apple Mac/MacBook as their daily system. As it stands now, the M3 Macs boot to a simple console and that's about it with the lack of proper GPU acceleration and functionality like the keyboard on MacBooks not working either. Posted to the kernel mailing list today was the new driver patches for enabling the internal keyboard on more recent Apple MacBooks.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Features: Cache Aware Scheduling, USB4STREAM, AMD ISP4, AMDGPU HDMI 2.1 FRL
Linux 7.2 is working toward release in August with its more than 43 million lines in the codebase. With Linux 7.2 there are many new changes in tow as summed up in today's feature overview.
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07/03
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc2 BPF Code Being Hardened Against JIT Spraying Attacks
Some post-merge-window code changes merged overnight ahead of Linux 7.2-rc2 this weekend is hardening the kernel's BPF code against JIT spraying attacks
07/04
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc2 Raising The Default RISC-V 64-bit CPU Limit To 256 Cores
A post merge-window change that landed in Linux Git overnight ahead of tomorrow's Linux 7.2-rc2 release is bumping the default limit on the number of supported CPU cores for RISC-V 64-bit. Now by default Linux will support up to 256 cores with RISC-V 64-bit kernel builds.
⇒ OpenRazer 3.12.4 Fixes Compatibility With Linux 7.2
OpenRazer 3.12.4 is now available as the newest update to these out-of-tree, unofficial Linux drivers for Razer devices. OpenRazer when paired with the likes of Polychromatic or other GUI options is what makes for a nice experience running Razer gaming peripherals under Linux.
Enjoy-ID!
Enjoy-IT!> Per terminus, ad terminal
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07/03
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc2 BPF Code Being Hardened Against JIT Spraying Attacks
Some post-merge-window code changes merged overnight ahead of Linux 7.2-rc2 this weekend is hardening the kernel's BPF code against JIT spraying attacks
07/04
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc2 Raising The Default RISC-V 64-bit CPU Limit To 256 Cores
A post merge-window change that landed in Linux Git overnight ahead of tomorrow's Linux 7.2-rc2 release is bumping the default limit on the number of supported CPU cores for RISC-V 64-bit. Now by default Linux will support up to 256 cores with RISC-V 64-bit kernel builds.
⇒ OpenRazer 3.12.4 Fixes Compatibility With Linux 7.2
OpenRazer 3.12.4 is now available as the newest update to these out-of-tree, unofficial Linux drivers for Razer devices. OpenRazer when paired with the likes of Polychromatic or other GUI options is what makes for a nice experience running Razer gaming peripherals under Linux.
BPF
What is eBPF? An Introduction and Deep Dive into the eBPF Technology
… BPF originally stood for Berkeley Packet Filter, but now that eBPF (extended BPF) can do so much more than packet filtering, the acronym no longer makes sense. eBPF is now considered a standalone term that doesn’t stand for anything. In the Linux source code, the term BPF persists, and in tooling and in documentation, the terms BPF and eBPF are generally used interchangeably. The original BPF is sometimes referred to as cBPF (classic BPF) to distinguish it from eBPF. …
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26/07/06
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc2 Released: "Things Look Very Normal"
Linux 7.2-rc2 is now available for testing in working toward the stable Linux 7.2 release in August.
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26/07/11
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc3 Bringing Display Detection Improvement To Help Some Multi-GPU Systems
Sent out today was this week's round of x86 (x86_64) fixes ahead of the Linux 7.2-rc3 kernel test candidate due out on Sunday.
The x86 fixes for Linux 7.2-rc3 are mostly some minor fixes but one that does stand out is fixing the x86 VGA display fallback logic during the Linux boot process on some multi-GPU systems.
26/07/12
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc3 Bringing Fixes For The SEGA Dreamcast Drivers In 2026
It wasn't on my bingo card for the week but merged to Git ahead of today's Linux 7.2-rc3 kernel release are a number of fixes for the SEGA Dreamcast drivers.
⇒ Linux 7.2 Enabling UltraRISC RISC-V Support In The Default Kernel Build
Similar to Linux 7.2 enabling Eswin SoC support by default in the RISC-V "defconfig" kernel build, UltraRISC RISC-V coverage is also now being enabled by default for RISC-V kernel builds in Linux 7.2.
⇒ Linux 7.2-rc3 Released: Close To The "New Normal"
Linux 7.2-rc3 is now available for testing in working toward the stable Linux 7.2 kernel version coming up in August.
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26/07/20
⇒ Linux 7.2 Improves Intel Panther Lake Xe3 Arc B390 Graphics Performance
My testing of the in-development Linux 7.2 kernel continues in the lab. One of the latest promising findings from this kernel that will be released as stable in August is faster Intel Xe3 graphics performance on Core Ultra Series 3 "Panther Lake" hardware.
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