Kernel release status
The 5.5 merge window is currently open after the release of 5.4 on November 24.
Significant features in 5.4 include the haltpoll
CPU governor, the iocost (formerly io.weight) I/O controller, the EROFS filesystem, an implementation of the exFAT filesystem that
may yet be superseded by a better version, the fs-verity file integrity mechanism, support
for the BPF
compile once, run everywhere mechanism, the dm-clone
device mapper target, the virtiofs
filesystem, kernel lockdown support (at
last), kernel symbol namespaces, and a new
random-number generator meant to solve the
early-boot entropy problem. See the KernelNewbies 5.4 page
for a lot more details.
Stable updates have not been in short supply. 5.3.12, 4.19.85, and 4.14.155 were released on November 21; 5.3.13, 4.19.86, 4.14.156, 4.9.203, and 4.4.203 came out on the 25th; 5.4.1, 5.3.14, 4.19.87, 4.14.157, 4.9.204, and 4.4.204 showed up on December 1; and 4.9.205 and 4.4.205 followed 30 seconds later.
The
4.14.158,
4.9.206, and
4.4.206
updates are in the review process; they are due on December 6.