Kernel Watch
Jon Masters keeps up with all the latest happenings in the Linux kernel, so you don’t have to.
Linus Torvalds announced Linux 6.4-rc1 following the closure of the customary two-week merge window, during which disruptive changes are allowed into a new kernel development cycle. The new kernel includes a number of new architecture-specific features, such as x86 LAM (Linear Address Masking) that allows user apps to borrow the top six bits of 56-bit virtual addresses for use as tags (while ignoring them as part of the actual address, this is useful for JITs and JVMs, for example, that need to add metadata to pointers), and a piece of new infrastructure for RISC-V called riscv_hwprobe that aims to make it easier for applications to discover the exact flavour of RISC-V support available.