Linus Torvalds announced over the weekend the launch of the 4.18th and last RC (Final Candidate) version of Linux Kernel XNUMX, also confirming the imminent arrival of the final version next week.
Linux Kernel 4.18 RC7 is now available for public testing and Linus Torvalds reports that there is nothing extraordinary in this release except minor bug fixes, noting that this is the last release before the end that could debut at the end of this week, on the 5th of August.
"Nothing particularly important happened this week, we had the usual minor bug fixes. About two-thirds of these errors come from drivers, but there are also a few other categories, if nothing strange happens, this would be the last RC for 4.18”. Mentions Linus Torvalds.
Linux Kernel 4.18 promises several new features and improvements that may interest some. Its most important features include fixes for Specter Variants 1 and 2 for 32-bit ARM architectures, as well as a compiler for eBPF programs on 86-bit x32 architectures.
Linux 4.18 also includes protection for Specter variant 4 for ARM 64 and ARMv8 architectures, improved support for the F2FS file system, better support for USB-C and USB 3.2, official support for Snapdragon 845 and initial support for upcoming Radeon Veg graphics cardsa.
As expected, there are many other improvements and new drivers for better hardware support and additional performance for Linux Kernel 4.18. The latest release should arrive on August 5, 2018, but it would take a couple of weeks to reach the official repositories of the different distributions.
For now, you can download RC 7 version of Linux Kernel 4.18 from Kernel.org, but keep in mind that even though it is polished enough, it is not yet a final version so don't replace your stable kernel.