NBCON Console Patches Updated For Eventually Unblocking Real-Time Linux Kernel

The threaded / atomic console support for the Linux kernel is the last main blocker before the real-time "RT" patches can finally be mainlined.

Sent out on Saturday was the fifth iteration of the non-BKL console "NBCON" patches as the base infrastructure in moving toward atomic consoles support. The patches now in their fifth iteration is the base functionality around NBCON consoles but does not follow through and wire up the threaded printing or atomic printing regions, which are being relegated to separate patch series.

The v5 patches have a number of code changes for enhancing the code and addressing various issues pointed out during prior code review. This work continues to be led by Intel-owned Linutronix who continues pushing along the Linux RT work in general.

The v5 patches for this NBCON base support are out for testing. It remains to be seen how long it will take before this work and ultimately the atomic / threaded console support is in place so that the real-time kernel support can finally be upstreamed. Given we're approaching the end of Q3 already, it's beginning to look less and less likely that the real-time kernel support will be mainlined in 2023, but here's to hoping it won't be too much longer.