14 DAY TRIAL // After informing the Linux community today about the availability of Linux kernel 4.9.9, renowned Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the release of the long-term supported Linux 4.4.48 kernel.
Just like Linux 4.9.9, Linux kernel 4.4.48 LTS is here only five days after its previous maintenance update, in this case Linux 4.4.47 LTS, but it's yet another small patch that changes a total of 35 files, with 235 insertions and 134 deletions, according to the appended shortlog. Half of the patch appears to be updated drivers, and the rest is split between Arch updates, filesystem fixes, as well as the usual core kernel and mm changes.
"I'm announcing the release of the 4.4.48 kernel. All users of the 4.4 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 4.4.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.4.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," said Greg Kroah-Hartman.
Some minor PowerPC and x86 issues have been resolved
Taking a quick look at the changes implemented in Linux kernel 4.4.48 LTS, we can notice some fixes for the PowerPC, x86, and AArch64 (ARM64) hardware architectures, small updates to the CIFS, NFS, and EXT4 filesystems, and updated drivers, in particular for things like USB, GPU (Nouveau only), ATA, HID, MMC, and PCI. The networking stack has been updated as well, but it also includes a couple of fixes, one for the SunRPC protocol support.
All the technical details about the fixes brought by Linux kernel 4.4.48 LTS can be viewed in the full changelog linked above for your reading pleasure, and you can download the tarball right now from kernel.org or via our website if you fancy compiling software from sources. Otherwise, you should wait until your distribution vendor ships the new Linux 4.4.48 LTS packages in the stable repositories.