Linux 6.2 Released With Intel Arc Graphics Promoted, Open-Source NVIDIA RTX 30
Linux 6.2 succeeds Linux 6.1 as the 2022 LTS kernel that will be maintained until at least the end of 2026. Expect many of the fixes from Linux 6.2 to get back-ported to Linux 6.1 for those that haven't already been picked up for that long-term support kernel.
The Linux 6.2 features are aplenty with work across the board and a lot of work as usual from the likes of Intel, AMD, Google, Red Hat, and the other usual suspects. Linux 6.2 promotes the Intel Arc Graphics (DG2/Alchemist) to being stable and enabled out-of-the-box, Intel's On Demand driver is now in good shape for 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" CPUs, there is initial support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series "Ampere" accelerated graphics with Nouveau open-source code, Apple M1 Pro / M1 Max / M1 Ultra support has been upstreamed, Call Depth Tracking has been merged for helping performance of older Intel Skylake era PCs in light of Retbleed as being less costly than enabling IBRS, various file-system driver enhancements, security improvements, and more.
See the Linux 6.2 kernel feature list for a complete overview of all the exciting changes in this kernel version.
The Linux 6.2 cycle was drawn out by an extra week due to it starting back around the Christmas / New Year's holidays and many of the developers/testers having time away from work due to the year-end events. But now that Linux 6.2 is released, it's time for the equally exciting Linux 6.3 cycle to get started.
Linux 6.2 will hopefully become the default kernel of Ubuntu 23.04 as well as being found in the likes of Fedora 38 before the succeeding v6.3 kernel rolls out in late April. Linux 6.2 overall has been in good shape from my continued testing and especially for Skylake/Skylake-derived cores is looking better if opting for Call Depth Tracking and it's great to have stable Arc Graphics A380/A750/A770 working out-of-the-box in the labs.
The new kernel, as always, can be downloaded from kernel.org for those rolling their own kernel builds.
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