14 DAY TRIAL // Linux Torvalds has just announced that the final version of Linux Kernel 3.18 has been released and is now available for download. It's a major update and users will find that there are quite a few new features available.
A new development cycle has been completed for the Linux kernel and users now have a new version to play with, although it will take a while until it is integrated in the repositories and new distros.
On the other hand, more knowledgeable users will be able to install it right now, although it might need compiling, depending on the system they're using.
As usual, when a new Linux kernel has been released, it also means that the merge window for the next one has been opened already. Developers will start pushing patches and new features into the next kernel, although the fact that the holidays are almost upon us might slow the process just a little bit. It's not something unusual, but that definitely is something to be considered.
Linux Kernel 3.18 is interesting for the wrong reasons
A couple of developers found an interesting regression that slipped past the radar and they have been trying to fix it for a few weeks now. From the looks of it, they are still having a hard time narrowing down the list of suspects, although they are actively trying to repair it.
The good news is that this particular problem is affecting a very low number of people, so the launch of the stable version hasn't been impeded.
"It's been a quiet week, and the patch from rc7 is tiny, so 3.18 is out. I'd love to say that we've figured out the problem that plagues 3.17 for a couple of people, but we haven't. At the same time, there's absolutely no point in having everybody else twiddling their thumbs when a couple of people are actively trying to bisect an older issue, so holding up the release just didn't make sense. Especially since that would just have then held things up entirely over the holiday break."
"So the merge window for 3.19 is open, and DaveJ will hopefully get his bisection done (or at least narrow things down sufficiently that we have that "Ahaa" moment) over the next week. But in solidarity with Dave (and to make my life easier too ;) let's try to avoid introducing any _new_ nasty issues, ok?" said Linus Torvalds in the official announcement.
Some of the modifications made to the kernel include changes for Btrfs, support for OverlayFS, and a number of Radeon improvements. You can download the source package for Linux kernel 3.18 right now from Softpedia.
