Linus Torvalds has announced the release of Linux kernel 6.11, which is the kernel version Ubuntu 24.10 and Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS will offer.
This update arrives just days ahead of the Linux Kernel Maintainer Summit in Vienna, Austria. In his announcement on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, Torvalds expressed:
“I’m once again on the road and not in my normal timezone, but it’s Sunday afternoon here in Vienna, and 6.11 is out”, encouraging kernel developers to “give the latest release a try” before the 6.12 merge window opens the following day.
To explore the key updates in this release, continue reading.
Key Linux 6.11 Features
Each new update of the Linux kernel includes significant development for yet-to-be-released hardware components from Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and others. Although these updates are essential, they may not directly impact many users immediately, so they will not be the primary focus here.
Most updates are predictable, such as new support for temperature sensors in GPUs that won’t be available to consumers for several months, or sound support for CPUs slated for release in a few years. While these updates are noteworthy, they aren’t immediately relevant for most users.
Instead, this discussion highlights enhancements, supports, and fixes for existing hardware, which is already available in the market and widely used. These improvements are crucial as they offer immediate, real-world benefits to users considering upgrading to this version of the kernel.
AMD
Linux 6.11 introduces the ability to control AMD Core Performance Boost within the AMD P-State driver, offering the option to adjust turbo and boost frequency ranges and manage performance boost on a core-by-core basis. The latest Power Profiles Daemon update seems to be well-suited to accommodate this feature.
Another addition to the AMD P-State driver is AMD Fast CPPC, which enhances power efficiency on recent Ryzen (Zen 4) mobile processors. It slightly elevates performance, improving it by about 2-6% depending on the activity, without increasing power consumption.
Encryption and decryption processing for AES-GCM on contemporary AMD (as well as Intel) processors have reached speeds up to 160% faster, a significant enhancement carried out by the same Google engineer who previously improved AES-XTS performance significantly in the Linux 6.10 kernel release.
There’s also support for running x86 kernels as a guest using AMD SEV-SNP encrypted virtualisation feature via KVM.
Intel
Aside from that bring up I said I’ll be skipping over, there’s a small clutch of interesting Intel changes this kernel for ‘Lunar Lake’ devices (which have just gone on sale), including perf subsystem support for the performance monitoring unit (PMU) on these chips.
Elsewhere, there’s a tweak to the TPMI driver to enable user-space (by way of DebugFS) for Intel Performance Limit Reasons reporting, which provides details on why CPU cores are running at lower performance levels than expected.
I’m not aware of any Linux applications that actively search for this data, but it’s possible that some might emerge as this version of the kernel becomes more widely used.
Intel servers that run Linux version 6.11 are now able to utilize Sub-NUMA clustering, which enhances performance for NUMA-specific workloads even when Intel’s Resource Director Technology (RDT) is active. Previously, these two technologies were incompatible.
ARM & RISC-V
In addressing several issues that Linus Torvalds encountered while working on kernel development on his new, powerful ARM64 system, changes were implemented allowing compressed kernel images to now be installed, not just built. Additionally, enhancements were made to bolster support for a select number of other small issues.
ARM64 now supports CPU hotplug on ACPI systems, with documentation clarifying that “CPU hotplug in the arm64 world refers to the kernel taking CPUs online and offline using PSCI.” Enlightening indeed!
RISC-V introduces support for memory hot plugging in Linux 6.11, in addition to a set of new ISA extensions, STACKLEAK security feature, initial NUMA support, console output, and cache information on ACPI-based systems among other miscellaneous updates.
This kernel version also provides support for several ARM-powered laptops…
Hardware
The 2019 Lenovo Yoga C630 WOS, one of the pioneering Windows on ARM laptops using the Snapdragon 850 SoC, is now supported by a new embedded controller driver in Linux 6.11, enhancing features like battery and power supply data – essential for portable devices.
Continuing with ARM technology, the release also starts support for Snapdragon X1 Elite laptops, particularly the “Copilot+” models. The ASUS VivoBook S 15 receives better initial support compared to the Lenovo Slim 7x, although it suffers from slow drive speeds and lacks functioning USB or HDMI outputs.
For those utilizing Linux on Chromebooks, like myself, the new Linux kernel 6.11 will be interesting as it introduces further mainline support via a couple of new drivers.
A new driver called cros_ec_hwmon now allows users to monitor fan speeds and temperatures on newer Chromebooks through the ChromeOS Embedded Controller (CrOS EC), which is also employed in certain Framework 13 AMD laptops.
The latest cros_charge-control driver introduces support for setting charging thresholds via CrOS EC. It utilizes sysfs in user-space, enabling Linux distributions or Desktop Environments to set charging thresholds on specific Chromebooks and Framework 13 laptops.
Additionally, the new ChromeOS EC LED driver in Linux kernel 6.11 benefits Framework 13 laptops by allowing adjustments to multi-color LEDs based on different events or triggers.
Furthermore, the mainline Linux kernel now offers support for fan control on newer Dell systems (laptops, PCs, all-in-ones, etc.), the Raspberry Pi PiSP camera for the Pi 5, Realtek RTL8192DU USB Wi-Fi adapters, and the Thrustmaster TCA Yoke Boeing joystick.
Graphic designers, animators, and digital artists who use Linux will be pleased to know that the Huion Inspiroy 2 S, Dial 2, and XP-PEN Deco Mini 4 tablets and pens are now fully compatible with Linux 6.11.
Other changes
- Linux 6.11 no longer prevents writes to busy executable files
- Extensions to the
listmount()andstatmount()system calls - Support for block drivers written in Rust
- Atomic write operation support in block subsystem on NVMe and SCSI drives
io_uringsubsystem supportsbind()andlisten()operations- Btrfs filesystem recovery support improved
- Btrfs block-group reclaim better able to avoid unavailable space issues
- ntfs3 filesystem now supports “compressed” and “immutable” file attributes
- Pidfd filesystem supports
ioctl()calls - Monochrome logo can be displayed on kernel panic
- ethtool utility tweaks
Plus a whole lot more – the LWN merge summaries for Linux 6.11 are a great jumping off point for learning more about the key new features in this version.
Install Linux Kernel 6.11
Linux 6.11 represents an important update with numerous foundational enhancements, security fixes, and performance gains, along with better hardware compatibility.
Wondering how to get your system updated to Linux kernel 6.11?
You have a couple of options: you can opt to download the source code for the Linux kernel and compile it manually, or you may choose to wait for your specific Linux distribution to offer this as an update in its packages—though not every distribution will provide this.
For instance, Ubuntu 24.10 ships with Linux 6.11 already included, and this kernel version is slated to be backported to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS in the upcoming year.
Users of the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS generally receive new Linux kernel updates a few weeks after their stable release. The updates are packaged by System76, instead of coming directly from Canonical/Ubuntu.
Various Linux-oriented websites suggest that Ubuntu users might consider installing Canonical’s mainline kernel builds. These builds, however, are not typically recommended for the average user. They are not signed, may not boot properly, do not receive security updates, and could be missing Ubuntu-specific patches.
Despite these issues, many individuals still opt to use these kernels. If you’re eager for a specific feature or fix in Linux 6.11, utilizing these pre-packaged DEB files might be an option to consider.