14 DAY TRIAL // Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the availability of two new Linux kernel releases, the Linux 4.4.50 LTS and Linux 4.9.11 LTS, both bringing various networking improvements and updated drivers.
These new maintenance updates of the long-term supported Linux 4.9 and 4.4 kernel series are here only three days after the release of the Linux 4.4.49 LTS and Linux 4.9.10 LTS versions, so you can imagine that the changes implemented in point releases aren't so big. According to the appended shortlogs, Linux kernel 4.9.11 LTS changes a total of 49 files, with 468 insertions and 342 deletions, and Linux kernel 4.4.50 LTS comes with 29 files changed, with 172 insertions and 89 deletions.
"I'm announcing the release of the 4.9.11 [and 4.4.50] kernel. All users of the 4.9 [and 4.4] kernel series must upgrade. The updated 4.9.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.9.y and 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 http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary," said Greg Kroah-Hartman.
There are mostly networking improvements with some updated drivers
Both Linux 4.9.11 LTS and Linux 4.4.50 LTS kernels include an updated networking stack that adds various IPv4 and IPv6 improvements, as well as some small changes to things like Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), Distributed Switch Architecture (DSA), Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP), Controller Area Network (CAN), Ethernet, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), and packet scheduler. On the other hand, they bring a few updated Ethernet drivers, for Mellanox and STMicroelectronics adapters.
Those of you who are using GNU/Linux distributions powered by kernels from either the long-term supported Linux 4.9 or Linux 4.4 branches are urged to update their systems as soon as possible, or as soon as the new versions arrive in the stable repositories. OS vendors and power users can download the Linux kernel 4.4.50 LTS and Linux kernel 4.9.11 LTS source tarballs right now from kernel.org or via our website if they want to compile them themselves.