14 DAY TRIAL // Renowned Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman released new kernel updates for the Linux 4.14, 4.9 LTS, and 4.4 LTS series, which add more security fixes and updated drivers.
Linux kernels 4.14.15, 4.9.78 LTS, and 4.4.113 LTS are now available, and they come with numerous improvements. While Linux kernel 4.14.15 is by far the biggest of them all, containing 104 files changed, with 1514 insertions and 447 deletions, Linux 4.9.78 LTS and 4.4.113 LTS kernels are pretty identical and include 60 changed files with 525 insertions and 167 deletions, and 64 changed files, with 960 insertions and 139 deletions respectively.
"I'm announcing the release of the 4.14.15 [4.9.78 and 4.4.113] kernel. All users of the 4.14 [4.9 and 4.4] kernel series must upgrade," said Greg Kroah-Hartman. "The updated 4.14.y [4.9.y and 4.4.y] git tree can be found at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.14.y, git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.9.y, and git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.4.y."
Architecture improvements, updated drivers
As expected the Linux 4.14.15, 4.9.78 LTS, and 4.4.113 LTS kernels bring more security improvements to mitigate the severe Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. While Linux kernels 4.9.78 LTS and 4.4.113 LTS contain only fixes for the x86 architectures, the Linux 4.14.15 kernel also includes numerous fixes for the PowerPC architecture, as well as some minor changes for ARM64 (AArch64), ARM, Alpha, and MIPS hardware architectures.
All three kernel releases include various updated drivers for things like MD, GPU, ATA, I2C, NVDIMM, SCSI, HV, PHY, InfiniBand, MMC, USB, sound, and networking. Other than that, there are the usual tooling, mm, and core kernel fixes. You can download the Linux 4.14.15 kernel, as well as the Linux 4.9.78 LTS, and 4.4.113 LTS kernels right now from kernel.org if you fancy compiling your own kernel, but they should soon be available from the stable repositories of your favorite distros.