Linux 5.14 Stable Likely Coming Next Weekend, 5.14-rc7 Released Today

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux 5.14 Stable Likely Coming Next Weekend, 5.14-rc7 Released Today

The Linux 5.14 cycle is playing out smoothly and will likely lead to the Linux 5.14 stable kernel release happening next weekend...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.14-rc7

[caligula]

Tried the rc6 just yesterday. Became unresponsive right after booting. Ssh login didn't and no picture on monitors. I wonder if these rcs ever work for anyone.

[avem]

Tried the rc6 just yesterday. Became unresponsive right after booting. Ssh login didn't and no picture on monitors. I wonder if these rcs ever work for anyone.

All RCs must work for everyone considering there's a linux-next tree where new experimental patches are first merged into, tested and "fixed". Sounds like this doesn't work.

Oh, we have supposedly super stable "stable" releases which have recently seen quite a lot of reverts for criticial regressions introduced as "stable". Long story short, there's a RHEL kernel and there's everything else - bugs and regressions galore.

[cytomax55]

All RCs must work for everyone considering there's a linux-next tree where new experimental patches are first merged into, tested and "fixed". Sounds like this doesn't work.

Oh, we have supposedly super stable "stable" releases which have recently seen quite a lot of reverts for criticial regressions introduced as "stable". Long story short, there's a RHEL kernel and there's everything else - bugs and regressions galore.

I never knew there was as RHEL kernel... now i know... and most likely its stable because its old as dust

RHEL 8.4

2021-05-18

2021-05-18 RHSA-2021:1578

4.18.0-305

This might be perfectly okay with servers but any relatively modern cpu/gpu for gaming would prob not do well

[Eumaios]

Indeed, Michael recently posted a comparison of Debian 10 and Debian 11, which showed a healthy boost in speed for Debian 11, and he concluded that it was likely due to the more-modern kernel.

[Michael]

Indeed, Michael recently posted a comparison of Debian 10 and Debian 11, which showed a healthy boost in speed for Debian 11, and he concluded that it was likely due to the more-modern kernel.

Also the newer GCC and other components...

[Eumaios]

Also the newer GCC and other components...

Thank you for the clarification!

[JoelOl75]

Tried the rc6 just yesterday. Became unresponsive right after booting. Ssh login didn't and no picture on monitors. I wonder if these rcs ever work for anyone.

I have been using the latest rcX releases with no problems. It took a lot of tinkering with the .config file to get every module I need so I can compile on one machine and run it across all my PC's and laptops. Once I got a golden .config file, it is just a simple process to compile. I needed a newer kernel to support my 10GB Ethernet and the latest amdgpu drivers, but all modules for the touchpad on my old Asus 6th Gen Intel with integrated i915 driver as well. I use KDE Neon (An Ubuntu 20.04 LTS derivative) so my method is:
Install Dependencies (maybe missing a few, shouldn't be hard to figure this part out):

sudo apt install build-essential libncurses-dev bison flex libssl-dev libelf-dev git kernel-package

Clone the git repo to your home directory:

cd ~
git clone git://git.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-kernel-test/ubuntu/+source/linux/+git/mainline-crack cod/mainline/v5.13

Goto the source directory: i.e. ~/cod/mainline/v5.13

cd ~/cod/mainline/v5.13

Copy over the .config file from your current kernel into this directory as a solid starting point (those are backticks and not quotes):

cp /boot/config-`uname –r` .config

Use make oldconfig to answer questions about kernel features that were added/modified since your current kernel (Just keep pressing enter to accept the defaults if uncertain)

make oldconfig

If you wish to poke around in the config (such as enabling features, such as the new nvme hardware monitoring or such...) run:

make menuconfig

I'm assuming you are running a signed stock kernel. If you have secure boot enabled you will need to disable it in the BIOS. You can generate a key and register it with your BIOS to keep secure boot, but you will need to register this key with your BIOS and use it to sign your kernel. There's many how-to's on this, but for brevity I'm not traveling down that rabbit-hole, so... We shall generate a key during compilation and sign modules with it. Using your favorite text editor, open the .config file and find (search for, it a big file) the line:

CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS="debian/canonical-certs.pem"

and make it (Empty double quotes):

CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS=""

OK, this is personal preference, but the maintainers never seem to update the Makefile properly so, using your text editor of choice, edit the top of the Makefile to ensure the version info is right, which it rarely is, 5.13 still had rc7 in the string, so change it to 0 or .0 or whatever makes sense.
Also, I hate, hate, hate the "+" it appends to the version which I kill with:

touch .scmversion
export LOCALVERSION=""

Now you are ready to let the sparks fly, replace the "16" after the -j flag to how many threads your processor has to speed comp time. I have 16 threads, if the -j flag is omitted, it will take forever and a day to finish. I also append the date I compile to the version string here, feel free to put the date in any format you wish... or not...

fakeroot make-kpkg -j 16 --initrd --revision=061321 kernel-image kernel-headers

The two .deb packages are in the next directory up...and install:

sudo dpkg -i ../linux*

If you are using the amdgpu driver, remember that X wont start with the new kernel because the default ubuntu kernels blacklist the amdgpu driver. At first I deleted the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-amdgpu.conf, but a later install of an older stock ubuntu kernel (always keep them around, this is uncharted territory so at least 1 old 5.4 or 5.8 kernel should be left) reinstalled this blacklist, so better to edit this file and remove or comment out this line and resave it.

[wolfyrion]

All the kernel rc's I have tested so far (except rc7 , didnt test yet) have problems with Audio and this is causing the freezing issues.

[Sonadow]

All the kernel rc's I have tested so far (except rc7 , didnt test yet) have problems with Audio and this is causing the freezing issues.

rc6 on laptop and pulseaudio without problems.