The Huge Linux 5.2 Kernel Merge Window Kicks Off

Following last night's release of Linux 5.1, the Linux 5.2 merge window is now open. There's already been several pull requests sent in today that Linus is expected to begin acting on shortly.

While Linux 5.1 was a nice and big upgrade, Linux 5.2 is already looking to be a much mightier kernel. There is a ton of work that will be found in Linux 5.2.

A list of what we've been tracking is below and stay tuned to hear about whatever else lands over the next two weeks ahead. Sadly though it doesn't look like WireGuard will be introduced in Linux 5.2. Other desired work on Radeon Navi support, Nouveau re-clocking for Maxwell+, Bcachefs, and other long WIP items are not coming with this kernel.

- EXT4 case-insensitive filenames/folders on a per-directory basis as a new optional feature for the file-system. This case-insensitive support would be lighter weight than what Wine currently does, among other user-space options.

- A new Realtek "RTW88" WiFi driver for their newer chipsets and replaces the existing staging RTLWIFI driver.

- The U2F Zero driver is added for this libre hardware providing two factor authentication and hardware RNG capabilities.

- For ARM Mali graphics hardware the Panfrost DRM driver is ready for Midgard and Bifrost hardware. For older Mali hardware, the Lima driver also got queued into DRM-Next. Meanwhile with the new Komeda DRM driver is Mali D71 display support.

- AMD Ryzen laptops should be working better thanks to more touchscreens/touchpads now correctly behaving thanks to the new MP2 I2C driver.

- Continued Intel Icelake work. Additionally, initial support for Elkhart Lake.

- AMDGPU FreeSync improvements.

- Fixes for Nouveau.

- NVIDIA AltMode driver is an open-source driver for enabling VirtualLink on the USB-C connections with newer NVIDIA graphics cards.

- Better Logitech keyboard/mouse support.

- Improved Thunderbolt support on older Apple hardware.

- Daktronics drivers have been mainlined for this company that designs huge displays for sporting venues and other industrial applications.

- Intel i40e Dynamic Device Personalization.

- x86/mm optimizations.

- A null TTY driver is finally in the mainline kernel for helping out when no other TTY drivers are available/active.

- A new subsystem with Linux 5.2 is Generic Counters.

- Another new subsystem is the Fieldbus subsystem for industrial control/monitoring.

Stay tuned for a wild ride with Linux 5.2.