Linux 5.4-rc1 Kernel Steps Forward With Next-Gen GPU Bits, Arm Laptop Support & exFAT

It's coming one day late due to the last minute entropy/RNG patches to improve the random behavior during boot time (among other late patches), but Linus Torvalds has just tagged Linux 5.4-rc1 as what will be the last major stable kernel release of 2019.

See our Linux 5.4 feature overview if missing it from the weekend. Linux 5.4 is bringing new GPU support from Intel and AMD Radeon, long-desired Microsoft exFAT file-system support, Icelake Thunderbolt support is finally in place, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC support, the ability to run mainline kernels on various Arm consumer laptops, better IO_uring support, Logitech Lightspeed receiver support, and a heck of a lot more. See our feature list for all the details.

Linux 5.4 stable is likely to debut by the end of November or potentially December should last minute bugs come about. Following that will be the Linux 5.5 cycle before the holidays but that will not be out as stable until into Q1'2020. Linux 5.5 in turn is what will hopefully be shipping in the likes of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Linux 5.4-rc1 is available from Git and Kernel.org while awaiting any release announcement from Torvalds. At least as of -RC1, the Linux 5.4 kernel is still carrying over the codename of the "Bobtail Squid", a relative to the Cuttlefish. Linux 5.4 benchmarks coming!