The next Linux kernel should have version number 6.0 – “the numbers are getting too big again,” says the Linux inventor.
Linus Torvalds has released Linux kernel 5.19. The most important change is the inclusion of numerous updates for the LoongArch architecture for the CPU from the Chinese manufacturer Loongson, which is based on MIPS64 and RISC-V. Otherwise, writes Torvalds, the new release brings “nothing really interesting”, just the usual updates, bug fixes and improvements. This affects, among other things, the support for AMD Zen 4 CPUs.
M2 MacBook Air running Asahi Linux
What is more interesting, according to Torvalds’ post about the new kernel, is that it was released on a MacBook running Asahi Linux – a MacBook Air with an M2 processor, like the makers of Asahi Linux added on Twitter. Torvalds writes that he has been waiting a long time to be able to use an ARM64 notebook with Linux and hopes to be able to travel with the device in the near future.
With the release of Linux 5.19, the merge window for the next kernel version starts, in which Torvalds accepts patches. The next kernel will probably have the version number 6.0 because “I’m worried about being confused by numbers that are too big”.
