14 DAY TRIAL // After releasing the Linux 4.19 kernel series, renowned kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman is back at maintaining the various long-term supported Linux kernel branches, announcing the availability of the first point release of Linux kernel 4.19.
The Linux 4.19 kernel series is the most advanced Linux kernel available right now, and the first point release, Linux kernel 4.19.1, is now out to mark it as stable on the kernel.org website, which means that it is now ready to be adopted by most Linux-based operating system vendors who want to offer their users the latest available kernel.
A moderate update that changes a total of 43 files, with 199 insertions and 122 deletions, the Linux 4.19.1 kernel is recommended to all users who want to run the most advanced, and soon LTS (Long Term Supported), kernel series on their favorite GNU/Linux distribution. Therefore, we suggest installing it as soon as it's available in the stable repositories.
"I'm announcing the release of the 4.19.1 kernel. All users of the 4.19 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 4.19.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.19.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.
Linux 4.19 will be the next LTS kernel series
As Greg Kroah-Hartman himself confirmed to Linux Foundation's LTSI project a while ago, Linux 4.19 will be the next LTS (Long Term Support) kernel series, which means that it should be maintained for the next couple of years. As such, it is recommended to adopt the Linux 4.19 kernel series for your GNU/Linux distribution for the long run.
We remind you that Linux kernel 4.19 was released last month on October 22, 2018, bringing initial support for the Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless protocol, a brand-new asynchronous I/O polling interface, a new I/O latency controller, a new experimental file system called EROFS (Enhanced Read-Only File System), and numerous updatd drivers for better hardware support.
Security-wise, Linux kernel 4.19 adds mitigations for the L1 Terminal Fault (L1FT) and SpectreRSB vulnerabilities on x86 hardware, KPTI (kernel page-table isolation) protection for x86-32 systems, a new default Spectre Variant 2 mitigation technique called Enhanced IBRS for Intel CPUs, as well as Spectre Variant 2 mitigations for IBM PowerPC processors.
You can download the Linux 4.19.1 kernel right now from kernel.org or through our Linux software portal if you want to compile it yourself. Otherwise, we recommend waiting for your GNU/Linux distribution's maintainer to update the kernel packages to version 4.19 in the stable repositories. For more details about what's new in Linux kernel 4.19.1, check out the mailing list announcement.