Like every week, Linus Torvalds posted a circular informing about a new version of the Linux kernel. The difference is that what you have published this week is not a trial version, but the official Linux 5.1 release. This launch was scheduled for yesterday May 5 if they did not find any problems in its development, something that would delay a week until May 12, but it has not been like that and we already have an official launch.
And nothing seemed to indicate that it would not be so. The last releases, which we remember were the rc6 and rc7They were very quiet even though they coincided with the Easter holidays. rc6 was bigger than usual, but it was expected, while rc7 already entered normal. No problems in sight, the release, which is yet to appear in The Linux Kernel Archives, has already occurred.
What's New in Linux 5.1
First of all we have to remember that Linux 5.1 not an LTS release, so users who prefer these types of releases should stay with the version they are in. This version is recommended especially for users who use non-LTS versions and, even more, for those who are experiencing a hardware problem that the new version could solve. Among its novelties, we have:
- Ability to use persistent memory as RAM in addition to physical RAM.
- Ability to boot into a device-mapper device without using initramfs.
- Cumulative patch support for the new Live Patching feature.
- Zstd compression levels can now be configured.
- The fanotify-based monitoring system has been improved by adding what they call "super block root watch" to the fanotify interface.
- A high-performance interface called io_uring has been introduced, which makes asynchronous I / O fast and scalable.
- New method that allows secure signal delivery in the presence of PID reuse.
- New cpuidle governor called TEO (Time Events Oriented) that promises to improve energy management without affecting its consumption.
- Support for new hardware has been added.
As we have mentioned, the new version does not appear on the main page of The Linux Kernel Archive yet, but it does appear by browsing its archives. We can download it from here. Will you do it or do you prefer to stay as you are?