Monday, December 1st 2025
Linux Kernel 6.18 Released with Potential LTS Status
Linus Torvalds released Linux kernel 6.18 bringing new hardware support, virtualization improvements, and file system updates. The biggest change is the removal of the Bcachefs file system. Linux 6.18 also adds KVM x86 CET virtualization support, letting virtual machines use Intel and AMD's control-flow security features. The kernel can now run as a guest on FreeBSD's Bhyve hypervisor. AMD gets several virtualization improvements including Secure AVIC support, while a new dm-pcache feature lets persistent memory speed up slower storage devices. File systems see notable updates. Btrfs gets initial support for larger block sizes, while XFS now enables online filesystem checking by default. EXT4 adds new management capabilities, and OverlayFS gains case-folding support for better compatibility. Intel USBIO drivers are now included along with support for Wildcat Lake graphics. Additionally, new Tyr and Rocket drivers, along with more AMD Versal platform drivers, have been added.
Laptops get initial haptic touchpad support, new hardware includes DualSense PlayStation controller audio jacks and Apple M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra chips. Intel's Alder Lake-S processors (Core i7-12700K and Core i5-12600K) also gain support. In terms of performance the new release gets a boost with Sheaves, which speeds up how the kernel allocates memory. Swap handling is faster, NFS servers scale better, and UDP network performance has improved. The Rust Binder driver is now supported, and x86 systems get a new option to control microcode loading. Linux 6.18 could become the next long-term support kernel; however, that hasn't been confirmed yet. Development for Linux 6.19 starts now, with the first test version expected on December 14th.
Source:
9to5Linux
Laptops get initial haptic touchpad support, new hardware includes DualSense PlayStation controller audio jacks and Apple M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra chips. Intel's Alder Lake-S processors (Core i7-12700K and Core i5-12600K) also gain support. In terms of performance the new release gets a boost with Sheaves, which speeds up how the kernel allocates memory. Swap handling is faster, NFS servers scale better, and UDP network performance has improved. The Rust Binder driver is now supported, and x86 systems get a new option to control microcode loading. Linux 6.18 could become the next long-term support kernel; however, that hasn't been confirmed yet. Development for Linux 6.19 starts now, with the first test version expected on December 14th.
31 Comments on Linux Kernel 6.18 Released with Potential LTS Status
so i mean if this wonders it supports dualsense haptic feedback in games that support that feature too? interesting
I syned a few hours ago. Gentoo still does not have it in the tree: packages.gentoo.org/packages/sys-kernel/gentoo-sources
I may share again the new kernel options i may find.
I wonder if they are talking about x86. I thought x86 was dead. cpu micocode loading was possible for a long time as far as i know for amd64.
edit: oh it's only for EDAC.
It's just petty semantics anyway. Whether that is "amd64" or "EM64T", they're functionally the exact same thing, they don't work without the x86 base extensions and x86 itself isn't much use without the 64-bit superset, I feel like this whole "ackshyually, it's amd64 🤓👆" shtick is still a vindictive, petty way to get back at Intel for the "Itanic" that stuck by, just another technology way, way ahead of its time IMHO. And in the name of petty brand loyalty we let 2 multi-billion-dollar megacorps screw us all over their little patent game. I advocate for simply taking the x86 and x64 licenses from Intel and AMD both, and putting them in the public domain by force. Just declare it in the interest of national security or some other excuse.
"What would the world look like if IA-64 succeeded" is still the single biggest what-if in the tech world for me
Regardless from the link dgianstefani sent, looks like its just adding 12600K support for 1 specific feature (Error Detection And Correction in L1 and L2 cache), I'd assume the 12600K/12700K have still been working in Linux otherwise. Two major CPUs with very relevant market share not working in Linux for 4 years shouldn't be possible
But for more fun pedantry, this should really specify which flavor of x86, because we have:
anyways off topic post i will move on now