No Kernel 5.0! Linus Torvalds Prefers Releasing it as Kernel 4.17

Brief: Linus Torvalds has announced the release of Linux Kernel 4.17. Take a look at main new features in the latest kernel release.

A new Linux Kernel has been released today and unlike the expectations, it is not called Kernel 5.0.

On Linux’s Kernel Mailing list webpage, Linus Torvalds describes why he didn’t prefer to term this release as the Linux Kernel 5.0:

“No, I didn’t call it 5.0, even though all the git object count numerology was in place for that. It will happen in the not _too_distant future, and I’m told all the release scripts on kernel.org are ready for it, but I didn’t feel there was any real reason for it. I suspect that around 4.20 – which is I run out of fingers and toes to keep track of minor releases, and thus start getting mightily confused – I’ll switch over. That was what happened for 4.0, after all.”

In addition, he also had something to say about the merge window for Linux 4.18:

“And with this, the merge window for 4.18 is obviously open. I actually have some travel the second week of the merge window, which is very inconvenient for me, but I do hope that we’ll get all the big stuff merged the first week and it won’t impact any release scheduling. But we’ll have to see.“

Linux Kernel 4.17 has some interesting new features. Let’s have a look at them.

Linux 4.17 Kernel: Key Improvements

Linux 4.17 is not just another minor release. It brings in a lot of improvements under the hood. It is also a smaller kernel when compared to the previous kernel. The first and foremost thing which most of the users are excited about is the power-savings improvement for idle systems (up to 10% on affected systems).

For a fact, when a laptop is in the suspended state, it usually drained a lot of power (and also causing heating issues for some). So, hopefully, this release will address the problem. There’s a whole bunch of other important additions that we have listed out below:

• Removal of support for dead architectures ( blackfin, cris, frv, m32r, metag, mn10300, score, and tile)
• Improve memory pinning process to effectively avoid performance overhead and memory allocation errors.
• Addressed the dreaded memory leak issues for Dell XPS configurations
• Support for new AMD Hardware (GPUs)
• Intel Cannon Lake Graphics support
• Added support for Phoenix RC flight controllers
• Mitigating Meltdown/Spectre by providing patches for some Chinese x86 CPUs.
• Added multi-touch support for Razer Blade stealth laptops
• PS/2 Mouse support improvements
• Spectre updates for IBM s390

If you want a detailed log of improvements, you can head to the Kernel mailing list page where Linus Torvalds mentions everything else that matters in this release.

Wrapping Up

Linux 4.17 Kernel is an exciting kernel release. It ends support/integration of several obsolete architectures and adds a host of useful features/improvements.

What do you think about this release? Let us know your thoughts about it in the comments section below.