Linus Torvalds has officially released the Linux 5.4 "Kleptomaniac Octopus" kernel this evening as was expected. Linux 5.4 is the last major stable kernel release of the year and brings a lot of new hardware support particularly on the graphics processor front, Microsoft exFAT support is finally available, and a plethora of other new features and improvements to existing functionality.

If you haven't checked out our past Linux 5.4 coverage, see our Linux 5.4 feature overview for the lengthy look at all what's new or improved with this last major kernel release of 2019. If you are short on time, see our top Linux 5.4 highlights from Intel Tiger Lake Gen12 graphics support to exFAT to Raspberry Pi improvements to Intel Ice Lake Thunderbolt. There is also a lot on the security front with Linux 5.4.

Linus Torvalds wrote in the 5.4 announcement, "Not a lot happened this last week, which is just how I like it. And as expected, most of the pull requests I got were for the 5.5 merge window, which I'll obviously start working through tomorrow. What little there is here is mostly some networking updates (mix of network drivers and core networking), and some minor GPU driver updates."

Onwards to Linux 5.5, which is already looking quite exciting, and will be the first major kernel release of 2020 in late January or early February. Until then, Linux 5.4 is the latest and greatest stable series so enjoy.