Like every week, except for one after the release of a stable version, we already have a new Release Candidate of the Linux kernel. This time, it's about Linux 5.9-rc6 and, as almost always, or so Linus Torvalds transmits it, everything seems quite normal. Yes mentions two things that stand out, and one of them sounded worrisome to the rest of us mortals, not so for a Linux father who only you are worried about important things, like life.
What they have solved and could worry the rest of us was a regression. Specifically, the rc5 had lowered its performance, and Linux 5.9-rc6 has returned to offering the performance that was expected of the. On the same, now it is again comparable to that offered by Linux 5.8, the latest stable version (series) that is available.
Linux 5.9-rc6 already delivers expected performance
The only thing that appears in the diffstat is the removal of softscroll (both fbcon and vgacon), and there are people who want to save that, but we will see if any maintainers take the step. I'm not about to resurrect it in the broken form it was, so I doubt that will happen in 5.9, but we'll see what happens. The other stats look normal too - about 60% of the patch are drivers (and yes, smooth scrolling is a noticeable part, but not overwhelmingly so, there's sound, gpu, mtd, i2c, usb, etc.). And the usual architecture updates, along with some vm fixes (including the fix for the performance regression we noticed in the last rc) and performance tool updates.
The other point in which this rc6 stands out is that softscroll has been removed, although there are people who still want to save it. The removal is present, but softscroll could come back if some developer steps forward and commits to stick with it.
Linux 5.9 should arrive on october 4, the 11 if it requires a rc8. Therefore, it will not arrive in time to be included in the Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy Gorilla that will be released on October 22. Users interested in enjoying it when the time comes, something that I personally never recommend because I prefer to use the version of the kernel that my distribution offers me, will have to perform the manual installation. Another option that we always "recommend" is to install the new kernel using the Ukuu tool, from which we can also do the "Downgrade" if we experience a problem.