Linux 6.18 has officially been released, showcasing notable performance enhancements along with new hardware support and a significant removal. Linus Torvalds announced this release on November 30, 2025, expressing satisfaction over the progress made despite a flurry of last-minute bug fixes. Given the improvements, 6.18 is expected to be the next Long-Term Support (LTS) kernel, ensuring stable performance for many organizations and users alike.
Key Features of Linux 6.18
Gaming Enhancements
Linux gaming is thriving, largely due to Valve and the Steam Deck’s impact. The new kernel improves support for various handheld gaming devices. A dedicated hardware monitoring driver for GPD devices enhances fan control and sensor readings. The ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go 2 benefit from fixes for spurious interrupts, simplifying the gaming experience. Additionally, Linux 6.18 ensures that audio functionality on the Sony DualSense controller operates as intended.
Graphics and Processor Optimizations
The open-source Nouveau drivers now default to utilizing NVIDIA GPU System Processor firmware for Turing and Ampere GPUs, enhancing power management. The intel_pstate driver introduces better scaling options and supports hardware P-states for improved energy efficiency. A new Rust DRM driver is in place for Arm Mali GPUs, marking early steps toward broadening support for more graphics hardware.
Memory Management Innovations
Linux 6.18 introduces "sheaves," which are per-CPU caches for better memory management, enabling quicker allocation and freeing of memory objects, leading to enhanced multitasking performance.
Removal of Bcachefs
In a significant move, the Bcachefs filesystem code was removed from this release due to management issues rather than code faults. Those still interested will need to compile it manually.
Filesystem Improvements
This release features optimizations for exFAT, resulting in a remarkable 16x speedup in loading times for SD cards and USB drives. Improvements to EXT4 and FUSE are also notable. XFS can now perform repairs while mounted, enhancing stability.
Laptop and PC Support
Linux 6.18 adds initial support for haptic touchpads and brings various drivers that improve functionality for specific laptop models, including Alienware and Xiaomi devices. Work on Apple M2 chip support continues, making strides toward better performance on Apple hardware.
Security Advancements
Security features have also seen upgrades, including support for signing BPF programs to verify code integrity. The audit subsystem has improved to accommodate multiple Linux Security Modules simultaneously, enhancing the system’s overall security.
Networking Enhancements
Improvements to the networking subsystem enhance UDP performance, making systems more resilient against DDoS attacks.
Overall, Linux 6.18 introduces numerous enhancements across gaming, security, filesystem management, and device compatibility. While available for download as source code, users running stable Ubuntu releases may need to seek unofficial sources for this update.
For further details on the kernel and its features, you can explore the merge report or check out the kernel commits on GitHub.