The most notable changes:
- The virtiofs file system for passing certain host directories to guest systems. Interaction occurs in a client-server scheme via FUSE. Details.
- The fs-verity integrity checking mechanism. Similar to dm-verity, but operates at the level of Ext4 and F2FS file systems instead of block devices. Details.
- The dm-clone module for copying read-only block devices, allowing data to be written to the copy during the cloning process. Details.
- Support for AMD Navi 12/14 graphics processors and Arcturus and Renoir family APUs. Work is also underway for support of future Intel Tiger Lake graphics.
- MADV_COLD and MADV_PAGEOUT flags for the madvise() system call. They allow the identification of which memory data is non-critical for the process or will not be needed for a long time, so that this data can be paged out to free memory.
- The EROFS file system has been moved from the Staging section — a very lightweight and fast read-only FS advantageous for storing firmware and live CDs. Details.
- An exFAT file system driver developed by Samsung has been added to the Staging section.
- The haltpoll mechanism to improve guest system performance. It allows guests to receive additional CPU time before returning to the hypervisor. Details.
- The blk-iocost controller for distributing I/O between cgroups. The new controller focuses on the cost of future I/O operations. Details.
- Namespace for kernel module symbols. Details.
- Work continues on integrating real-time patches into the kernel.
- The io_uring mechanism has been enhanced.
- Improved performance with large directories on XFS.
- Dozens of other changes.
Source: linux.org.ru
