The final release of Linux 3.10 kernel is now available for download

Jul 1, 2013 06:20 GMT  ·  By

As expected, Linus Torvalds announced a few hours ago, June 30, the immediate availability for download of the final release of highly anticipated Linux 3.10 kernel.

Linux kernel 3.10 brings numerous breathtaking features, among which we can mention metadata checksums for the XFS filesystem, semaphores scalability enhancements, smaller extents support for the Btrfs filesystem, Bcache for SSD drives, and much more.

"So I delayed this by a day, considering whether to do another -rc, but decided that there wasn't enough upside."

"In other words, I could really have gone either way, but decided that there wasn't enough reason to break the normal pattern of 'rc7 is the last rc before the release'. So here goes.." Linus Torvalds stated in the official release announcement.

Highlights of Linux kernel 3.10:

• Timer free multitasking; • Added Bcache, a block layer cache for SSD caching; • Smaller extents support for the Btrfs filesystem; • XFS metadata checksums; • SysV IPC scalability improvements; • Semaphores scalability improvements; • Added TCP Tail loss probe algorithm; • MIPS KVM support.

But that's not all, as Linux kernel 3.10 also incorporates fixes, improvements and patches to the memory management, CPU scheduler, networking, crypto, virtualization, security, tracing/perf, and file systems areas.

For a complete list of all the newly added drivers, as well as newly supported devices and overall improvements, do not hesitate to take a look at the Linux kernel 3.10 DriverArch page and at the official changelog.

"In the bigger picture (ie since 3.9) this release has been pretty typical and not particularly prone to problems, despite my waffling about the exact release date."

"As usual, the bulk patch-wise is all drivers (pretty much exactly two thirds), while the rest is evenly split between Arch updates and 'misc'. No major new subsystems this time around, although there are individual new features," was stated at the end of the official announcement.

Download Linux kernel 3.10 source packages right now from Softpedia.