With Linux 6.15 there are many exciting new features for this kernel version expected to debut as stable later today. Following the Linux 6.15 stable release, the Linux 6.16 merge window will then open. Here is an early look at a portion of the changes anticipated to be submitted and more than likely merged for this next kernel version.
Below is a look at some of the Linux 6.16 changes expected based on the monitoring of the various “-next” subsystem branches and the like. There’s still chances any last minute problems or objections could be raised by Linus Torvalds himself, but more than likely below are some of the prominent changes you can expect to find in Linux 6.16. Of course, stay tuned to Phoronix for more details on the Linux 6.16 changes as the new merge window gets underway.
– Intel Platform Temperature Control Interface support.
– AMDGPU user mode queues support has been submitted.
– Infrastructure to report the reason why your AMD Zen system was reset or rebooted.
– Patches beginning for Intel Wildcat Lake support.
– Reporting outdated Intel CPU microcode as a security vulnerability.
– Intel QAT GEN6 driver support for QuickAssist Technology.
– Intel VRR refactoring along with more Intel Xe3 Panther Lake enablement work.
– The UAPI header file for the Asahi Apple Silicon graphics driver but not adding the actual Apple Silicon DRM kernel graphics driver yet.
– Intel Link Off Between Frames “LOBF” support for the Intel graphics driver code.
– Potentially the removal of very old x86 CPU support.
– Realtek RTL8127A 10GbE Ethernet Controller support.
– The Nouveau driver is adding support for NVIDIA Hopper and Blackwell GPUs.
– Continued work on the NOVA driver as the open-source NVIDIA kernel driver being developed.
– TI AM68 GPU support within the PowerVR DRM driver.
– FUTEX2 additions with NUMA handling, memory policy, and task-local hash maps support.
– DRM IN_FORMATS_ASYNC support for Intel to help with tearing and async flipping.
– Slightly faster AES-XTS performance for AVX-512 CPUs.
– PCIe link downgrading handling for the Intel Xe driver.
– Intel Xe driver fan speed reporting for Arc Graphics.
– A fix for old Intel Haswell graphics.
– Mediatek DRM driver preparations for HDMI 2.0 on the MT8195 and MT8188 SoCs.
– ByoWave Proteus Controller support.
– Device Memory TCP TX support.
– The Zblock compressed memory allocator has been seeing a lot of patches in the MM tree lately.
– IO_uring zero-copy receive support.
– The OpenVPN DCO kernel driver looks like it will finally land for faster OpenVPN virtual private networking performance.
– Block Write Streams for NVMe Flexible Data Placement (FDP).
– Dropping the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol “DCCP” support.
– Another performance improvement for FUSE.
– Support for new SiFive RISC-V Vendor Extensions.
– Qualcomm USB audio offloading support.
– RISC-V getrandom vDSO support for faster user-space RNG support.
– Dropping the kernel’s built-in software echo cancellation code.
– Some Apple Silicon DT additions and PCIe controller support for the Apple M2 Pro.
– Sensor monitoring for more desktop motherboards.
Stay tuned for more Linux 6.16 kernel coverage on Phoronix as the new merge window gets underway following the Linux 6.15 release.
