Linus Torvalds has announced the release and immediate availability for download of the seventh RC (Release Candidate), a milestone of the upcoming Linux kernel 4.15 series.
Linux kernel 4.15 has been in development since late November 2017, and it's time to end the development cycle. The Release Candidate brings even more x86 page table isolation (PTI) patches that mitigate the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities that put billions of devices at risk.
"We've had an interesting week and by now everyone knows why we merged all x86 page table isolation patches without following the deadlines," Linus Torvalds said.
In addition to the x86 PTI patches to mitigate the Meltdown and Spectre hardware flaws that affect all devices running processors from the last 25 years, the seventh Release Candidate of the Linux 4.15 kernel series includes various updated GPU, crypto, input layer, and drivers as well as some minor improvements for various file systems and architectures.
You can download Linux kernel 4.15 Release Candidate 7 from kernel.org if you want to try it out on your favorite operating system. Warning! Don't forget to replace your stable kernel with this pre-release version, nor use it in a production environment. Linux kernel 4.15 is expected to arrive in two weeks, on January 21, 2018.
