14 DAY TRIAL // Linux kernel developer Ben Hutchings announced the release and immediate availability of the eighty-seventh maintenance update to the oldest long-term supported Linux 3.2 kernel series.
Coming more than two weeks after the release of the previous maintenance update, the Linux 3.2.87 LTS kernel patch is a large one that changes a total of 175 files, with 1613 insertions and 744 deletions. There are a few manufacturers and OS vendors out there that are still using a kernel from the Linux 3.2 series, so updating to this new version is mandatory for keeping users secure and safe at all times.
"I'm announcing the release of the 3.2.87 kernel. All users of the 3.2 kernel series should upgrade. The updated 3.2.y git tree can be found at: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-3.2.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git," said Ben Hutchings in the mailing list announcement.
IPv4, IPv6, and DCCP improvements, lots of updated drivers
Included in the Linux 3.2.87 LTS kernel patch, we can notice an updated networking stack that brings various improvements to the IPv4, IPv6, DCCP (Datagram Congestion Control Protocol), IrDA, L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol), LLC, mac80211, packet scheduler, SunRPC, DECnet, Ceph, Bridge, and CAN (Controller Area Network) components.
Half of the patch are, as expected, updated drivers. Linux kernel 3.2.87 LTS improves many USB drivers, but also adds bug fixes for s390, SCSI, SSB, thermal, TTY, InfiniBand, PCI, ATA, Crypto, I2C, HID, hwmon, MD, IOMMU, MMC, and networking ones, including those for Marvell, Mellanox, and Xilinx Ethernet adapters. It also looks like the ARM, CRIS, PA-RISC, Sparc, PowerPC (PPC), and x86 architectures received some attention.
Various filesystems, such as Btrfs, EXT4, Ceph, OCFS2, NFS, UBIFS, and XFS have been improved, as well as the sound stack and tooling. If you're using a GNU/Linux distribution powered by a kernel from the long-term supported Linux 3.2 series, you are urged to update to Linux kernel 3.2.87 LTS as soon as possible. The source tarball is now available for download from kernel.org or via our website for OS vendors and power users who want to compile it from sources.