Linux 7.4 Begins Employing New “Core MM” Tree
Core memory management patches to the Linux kernel have typically been routed to mainline via Andrew Morton’s “MM” branch, which is where also a variety of broader memory management related patches are also queued like all the ongoing work to DAMON/DAMOS. Kernel maintainers have now agreed to a new “Core MM” tree as the home for all of the core memory management changes moving forward… ⌘ Read more
Reddit’s Largest Open Source Community Dumbfounded By AI Ban: ‘I Guess Linux Is No Longer Allowed?’
Kotaku reports:
r/opensource, Reddit’s primary “subreddit for everything open source related,” has banned all AI-assisted and AI-related projects…. As reported by The Verge, the subreddit’s October 24 post, titled “Your tokens aren’t valuable: No more AI,” features four new main … ⌘ Read more
Linux Fixes AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Regression Due To Cache Aware Scheduling
Merged for Linux 7.4 Git and marked for back-porting to Linux 7.2/7.3 stable is a regression fix affecting at least the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 “Strix Point” laptop SoC when making use of Cache Aware Scheduling… ⌘ Read more
PlayStation 5 Linux project upgraded to support PS5 Pro and newer firmware
The impressive PlayStation 5 Linux project is continuing on, and recent updates to it have again expanded what it can support.
Read the full article on GamingOnLinux. ⌘ Read more
EXT4 Lands Optional Buffered IOmap For Significant Performance Win With Large Writes
The EXT4 file-system changes were merged Sunday night for the ongoing Linux 7.4 merge window. The headline feature of EXT4 in this new kernel version is opt-in support for buffered IOmap usage that can lead to “significant” performance improvements for large writes… ⌘ Read more
25% of Incoming Pull Requests May Be AI Slop, Finds Study From Linux Foundation Research
“59% of maintainers report growing contribution volume since the rise of GenAI,” according to a new study published by Linux Foundation Research. But 25% of their incoming pull requests “are estimated to be low-quality, also known as ‘AI slop’.” And on large projects, 69% see growing contributions — a … ⌘ Read more
Systemd Merges Support for Rust Programs
“As of today in systemd Git it’s now possible for the systemd programs to be written in the Rust programming language as an alternative to C,” reports Phoronix:
Core systemd code like the systemd library doesn’t yet support Rust code, but for the various systemd programs / leaf components there is now support for using Rust… The new systemd-keyring-setup utility in Rust is used for provisi … ⌘ Read more
A Newly Proposed Linux Filesystem Can Fix Corrupted Data
BeamFS creator Aurelien Desbrieres is not calling for a merge, but is requesting feedback on an 18-patch proposal that takes the place of FTRFS, an earlier filesystem he proposed in April.
The Linux/Open Source blog It’s FOSS reports:
Filesystems that can repair damage, like Btrfs and ZFS, usually do it by falling back on a spare copy of the data. BeamFS skip … ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Sound Changes Merged: “The AI Flood Continues”
Linux sound subsystem maintainer Takashi Iwai of SUSE began the Linux 7.4 sound pull request by noting that “the AI flood continues” with there continuing to be a lot of new patches coming as a result of AI/LLM agents devising patches as well as uncovering new kernel bugs… ⌘ Read more
Cheap GameSir Nova Lite Gaming Controller Supported By Linux 7.4
Following all the HID driver updates/additions in Linux 7.4, the input subsystem changes were merged this weekend for this new kernel version… ⌘ Read more
Realtek rtl8723bs Driver Graduates Out Of Staging Area In Linux 7.4
After nearly a decade in the Linux kernel’s staging area and being worked on by many different kernel developer newcomers, the Realtek rtl8723bs graduated out of the staging area and is now a full-fledged member of the Linux networking subsystem… ⌘ Read more
AMD 600 Series Chipsets Now Have Temperature Monitoring Support On Linux
With the Linux 7.4 kernel and also marked for back-porting to the v7.2 and v7.3 series is finally the ability to monitor temperature sensors on AMD 600 Series chipsets that launched alongside the Ryzen 7000 series processors… ⌘ Read more
Google’s C Binder Driver Removed With Rust Binder Ready For “Few Billion Devices”
Linus Torvalds merged the “char/misc” changes for the Linux 7.4 kernel driver on Saturday. Most notable this cycle for char/misc is what’s being removed: Google’s C-written Binder driver has left the kernel with the Rust-based modern Binder driver ready to take for the role of being used by all future Android devices… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Block Updates Range From Floppy Disk Driver Fixes To Apple M4 NVMe Support
The Linux 7.4 block/storage and IO_uring updates were merged today for the ongoing merge window. With the breadth of Linux hardware support, the pull request varies from fixes to Linux’s floppy driver to enabling support for NVMe storage on Apple M4 devices… ⌘ Read more
SteamOS 3.9.5 Released With Linux 7.2 Kernel, KDE Plasma 6.7 Desktop & Other Updates
On Friday Valve released SteamOS 3.9.5 as their first stable release in the SteamOS 3.9 series. This brings all the great improvements previously available in preview form with many package updates and other enhancements… ⌘ Read more
SteamOS 3.9.5 released with Plasma 6.7, Linux 7.2, Security Fixes, better Steam Frame wireless adapter support
Valve just released SteamOS 3.9.5 as stable for all users across all supported systems, bringing with it many exciting enhancements for Linux gaming.
Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.ga … ⌘ Read more
Linux’s Early Boot-Time Physical Memory Allocator Sees Big Speed-Up: ~268s To ~50ms
Sent out today for the Linux 7.4 kernel were a set of memblock improvements. Most notable is a performance optimization within mm/memblock.c that implements the kernel’s early boot-time physical memory allocator that is used prior to the bring-up of the full page allocator… ⌘ Read more
539 MM Patches Merged For Linux 7.4 From Optimizations To More DAMON
Andrew Morton sent out the big set of memory management “MM” related patches for the Linux 7.4 merge window. This cycle it topped out at 539 total patches and a reviewed rate of 76%… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Graphics Driver Changes Headlined By AMDGPU HDMI 2.1 Features
Merged overnight were all the Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) driver updates consisting of many kernel graphics/display driver improvements. Arguably most exciting with these updates for Linux 7.4 is the AMD Radeon (AMDGPU) driver seeing HDMI 2.1 FRL enabled by default along with other HDMI 2.1 features… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Merges Slab Updates With A Nice Performance Improvement
The slab pull request was just merged for Linux 7.4. For end users nothing too incredibly exciting but there is one change that does yield a 24% throughput improvement in a benchmark exercising the kernel’s memory management subsystem… ⌘ Read more
HPFS Is The Latest File-System Slated For Removal On Linux
HPFS is the latest file-system driver for the Linux kernel facing removal. The High Performance File-System (HPFS) was developed by IBM and Microsoft for OS/2… ⌘ Read more
Borealis: Asahi Linux’s Apple Silicon Mesa Vulkan Driver Forked For Vibe Coding
Seeing a Vulkan API driver pull request this morning for introducing a new “Borealis” driver ID caught me by surprise as it was the first time I was hearing of such a driver. It turns out to be a fork of the Asahi Linux project’s HoneyKrisp driver in Mesa for Apple Silicon hardware… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Power Management Preps For AMD Ryzen Zen 6 & Intel Rugged Panther Lake
The power management subsystem updates were merged this week for Linux 7.4 along with the related ACPI and thermal control updates too… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Brings Hibernation Improvement For Helping Meet Energy Certifications
The PCI/PCIe subsystem improvements have been merged for the ongoing Linux 7.4 merge window… ⌘ Read more
Factorio 2.1 is out now with the native ARM64 Linux build to run on Steam Frame, Raspberry Pi and more
That day is here! Factorio 2.1 stable has arrived as a big clean-up release along with new platform support with their Native Linux version.
Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/factorio-2-1-i … ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Introduces New Driver For The Nintendo Switch 2 - Thanks To Valve
The HID subsystem updates have been merged for the Linux 7.4 kernel that included a few new drivers… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Fixes AMD CPU TLB Size Reporting For Zen 5 & Newer
As a follow-up to the article in September about a Linux patch for fixing under-reported AMD Zen 5 TLB sizes, that work is now merged for the Linux 7.4 kernel… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Workqueue Changes Bring A “10 To 100 Times Faster” Optimization
Adding to all the exciting performance optimizations and other improvements for Linux 7.4 is an exciting workqueue improvement. It’s not too often getting to talk about “10 to 100 times faster” software improvements… ⌘ Read more
AI Helping To Improve Linux’s AMD Zen CPU Microarchitecture Detection
A request for comments (RFC) was sent out last night on the Linux kernel mailing list in seeking to clean-up the AMD Zen microarchitecture detection within the kernel. This is for enhancing the kernel where there are code paths specific to a certain generation of AMD Zen processors or select generations such as Zen 3 through Zen 5 CPUs. AI was leveraged in helping to clean-up this AMD Zen code in the Linux kernel… ⌘ Read more
Several Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities Accidentally Posted To Public Kernel Mailing List
Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative appears to have accidentally disclosed several unpatched Linux kernel vulnerabilities on the public LKML instead of the private security list, including two CVSS 9.0 flaws that could enable remote code execution through SMB Direct and KSMBD. “This seemingly was a mistake … ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Improves Scheduling Latency For Short-Slice Tasks, NVIDIA Vera SMT Preference
The scheduler updates have been merged for the in-development Linux 7.4 kernel to deliver several nice scheduling enhancements… ⌘ Read more
x86 Kernel Shadow Stacks Being Worked On For Linux As Powerful Control Flow Protection
Linux user-space for several years had shadow stack support for hardware-enforced control-flow enforcement in defending against return oriented programming (ROP) attacks. Intel Tigerlake and newer CPUs or AMD Zen 3 and newer have the necessary hardware shadow stacks support. Shadow stacks have been effective for helping user-space software fend ROP attacks while now there is new work toward bringing shadow stack support for k … ⌘ Read more
Several Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities Accidentally Posted To Public Kernel Mailing List
Seemingly as an accident, overnight several new Linux kernel vulnerability reports were posted to the public Linux kernel mailing list rather than the private security mailing list. The vulnerabilities have yet to be patched on mainline but at least in some cases there are patches undergoing testing or queued in “-next” branches. The CVSS scores are as high as 9.0… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Adapts AMD Zen 6 For Less Costly CPU Security Mitigation
The x86/bugs pull request was merged this week for the Linux 7.4 kernel. Most notable here is adjusting the CPU security mitigations for AMD Zen 6 processors… ⌘ Read more
Epic Games Launcher Preview is slowly becoming actually usable on Linux
Epic Games recently announced a new in-development preview of the Epic Games Launcher, which has Linux support and recent updates have made it not so crap.
Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/epic-games-launcher-preview-is-slowly-becoming-actually-usabl … ⌘ Read more
SteamVR 2.18 brings Linux fixes, Steam Frame improvements, new Aurora environment
Valve just released the latest stable SteamVR 2.18 update, bringing with it an assortment of fixes for all supported platforms including Steam Frame.
Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/steamvr-2-18-brings-linux-fixes-steam-frame-improvements-new-aurora-en … ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Begins Landing Patches To Speed Up The Kernel Build Process
There are notable patches by Arm engineer Lorenzo Stoakes that have begun landing in Linux 7.4 for speeding up the Linux kernel build process. This work can provide some significant reductions in the Linux kernel build time… ⌘ Read more
AMD Brings Ryzen Overclocking Driver to Linux
AMD has published Linux kernel patches for an official Ryzen overclocking driver that allows users to adjust CPU power and current limits through a firmware interface exposed via sysfs. Phoronix reports: AMD engineer Shyam Sundar S K posted the patches for the AMD Overclocking “AOD” WMI driver as an interface to the platform firmware for managing overclocking and power/current limit … ⌘ Read more
Linus Torvalds Eliminates Unsafe __get_user() & __put_user() Functions In Linux 7.4
Linus Torvalds continues with his recent uptick in kernel patches himself, assisted in part by AI with Claude Code. Merged today was removing the historical and unsafe __get_user() and __put_user() kernel functions… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 Kernel Crypto Library Enjoying Optimized AES Implementations On x86 & RISC-V
The latest Linux kernel cryptographic subsystem performance work carried out by Google engineer Eric Biggers is migrating x86/x86_64 and RISC-V optimized implementations of different AES modes into the lib/crypto kernel crypto library to enjoy faster performance there… ⌘ Read more
Snapdragon X2 Performance On Linux Exceeding Expectations In Initial Benchmarks
For your viewing pleasure today are the first Linux benchmarks of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme on Linux using the new Ubuntu 26.10 X1E Concept ISO for Snapdragon X laptop support on Linux. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme flagship SoC is tested within the ASUS Zenbook A16 UX3607OA laptop. ⌘ Read more
AMD Working On Ryzen Overclocking Driver For Linux
AMD recently published patches for the Linux kernel to implement AOD, an AMD Overclocking driver for Ryzen processors. Linux enthusiasts have long sought an official AMD Ryzen CPU overclocking driver for Linux akin to Ryzen Master on Windows and it’s finally coming, at least from the kernel driver perspective… ⌘ Read more
Linux 7.4 To Close Files Synchronously For close_range, exec & exit
Of the many VFS changes to be merged for Linux 7.4 is now closing files synchrously for close_range, exec, and exit calls. In turn when needing to close many file descriptors this provides for much lower latency than the status quo… ⌘ Read more
Fwupd Working Toward Proper Android Integration
Google Chromebooks already have a mandate for nice Fwupd support with the Linux Vendor Firmware (LVFS) while now there is work on improving the Android integration for Fwupd/LVFS… ⌘ Read more
Meta Makes Improvements To Kernfs Scalability With Linux 7.4
Kernfs as the functions/frameworks used for creating pseudo file-systems on Linux like sysfs and configfs have seen some nice scalability work carried out by Meta. After Meta engineers discovered some system daemons getting stuck for minutes on their massive fleet of servers, they uncovered some scalability bottlenecks within Kernfs that now look to be resolved for Linux 7.4… ⌘ Read more
THE FINALS gets a huge update with enhanced destruction and a free for all mode
One of the few competitive online first-person shooters that works on SteamOS / Linux, THE FINALS just had a massive upgrade.
Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/10/the-finals-gets-a-huge-update-with-enhanced-destruction-and-a-free-for-all … ⌘ Read more
XFS Sees Small Performance Optimizations & Bug Fixes For Linux 7.4
The XFS file-system updates have landed for the in-development Linux 7.4 kernel… ⌘ Read more
Dynamic PAMT Merged For Linux 7.4 To Help Intel Servers Save Precious RAM
Dynamic PAMT has made it for Linux 7.4! Dynamic PAMT is a new feature for reducing memory overhead on Intel TDX servers where there may not be many concurrent virtual machines occupying a majority of the system. In today’s world with high memory prices and tight availability, Dymanic PAMT provides nice memory overhead reduction for modern Intel Xeon servers… ⌘ Read more
COSMIC Epoch 1.11 Released With Wayland xdg-dialog-v1, Better Multi-GPU Handling
System76 developers just released COSMIC Epoch 1.11 as the newest point release to their Rust-written open-source desktop environment catering to their in-house Pop!_OS Linux distribution… ⌘ Read more
OpenBSD 8.0 Released
OpenBSD 8.0 has been released with major virtualization and hardware upgrades, including support for up to 64 vCPUs per VM, Intel Arc graphics, ARM64 hibernation, and expanded RISC-V support. Linuxiac points out that it marks the “61st release of the security-focused Unix-like operating system.” From the report: Several fixes improve compatibility with 32-bit Linux guests, while changes to virtual machine ownership management and inte … ⌘ Read more