All users of the Linux 3.12 kernel branch must update

May 24, 2016 11:00 GMT  ·  By

Linux kernel developer Jiri Slaby has announced today, May 24, 2016, the release and general availability of the sixtieth maintenance build in long-term supported Linux 3.12 kernel series.

Linux kernel 3.12.60 LTS arrives approximately one month after the debut of the previous maintenance version, Linux kernel 3.12.59 LTS, changing a total of 87 files, with 604 insertions and 351 deletions. And if we take a closer look at the appended shortlog, which also includes the diff from version 3.12.59 released last month, we can notice many updated drivers, as well as architecture and networking stack updates.

"I'm announcing the release of the 3.12.60 kernel. All users of the 3.12 kernel series must upgrade," says Jiri Slaby. "The updated 3.12.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-3.12.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary."

Here's what was changed in Linux kernel 3.12.60 LTS

Among the components that have received attention during the development cycle of the Linux kernel 3.12.60 LTS point release, we can notice the ARM, PowerPC (PPC) and x86 hardware architectures. Then, there are the ISOFS and XFS filesystems, the sound and networking stacks (mostly updates to IPv6, IPv4, X.25, Netfilter, SunRPC, VSOCK, and packet scheduler). But there are also small crypto, mm, and core kernel changes.

Of course, there's no new maintenance of a Linux kernel branch without driver updates. Thus, Linux kernel 3.12.60 LTS comes with improvements to things like ACPI, CLK, EDAC, GPU (mostly Intel i915), HV, iiO, MMC, PINCTRL (PIN CONTROL), PNP, RTC, SCSI, TTY, USB, and Virtio. All users of a GNU/Linux operating system powered by a kernel from the Linux 3.12 LTS series are urged to update immediately. The Linux kernel 3.12.60 LTS sources are also available for download from kernel.org.