Linus Torvalds officially released version 7.1 of the Linux kernel on Sunday. A new NTFS driver, Intel FRED (Flexible Return & Event Delivery), and other minor improvements make up the new release.
Linus Torvalds announced the release via the mailing list and stated that the kernel is available for immediate download from his Git repository. Progress had been easy to track in recent months: both the upcoming NTFS changes and the nearly complete release candidate provided a clear indication of what was to come.
The most significant addition is a completely revamped NTFS implementation, which took four years to develop. Linux has supported NTFS for decades, but write support was always cumbersome and slow. This was problematic for users of external storage that utilized NTFS. Incidentally, the new implementation is not the default; it requires a manual change.
Faster writing thanks to delayed allocations
The updated driver uses delayed allocations: write operations are first bundled before being written to the disk. Small write operations benefit the most from this, or were previously particularly problematic, if you will. Previously, users of NTFS disks, such as external hard drives, had to rely on a much slower driver. The new implementation also uses iomap, a more modern API designed to improve disk stability.
Development began as a modernization of existing kernel code. Its developer, Namjae Jeon, previously demonstrated that the driver passes more validation tests than the existing NTFS3 driver from Paragon Software. That driver will remain in the kernel alongside the new implementation for the time being.
Landlock now also protects domain sockets
In addition to storage, kernel version 7.1 also expands security features. The Landlock mechanism, which protects access rights for processes, previously worked only for files, file systems, and network connections. Starting with 7.1, the protection also applies to domain sockets, the communication channels between processes on the same system.
Hardware support has been significantly expanded. Older AMD GPUs, the upcoming Intel Panther Lake CPUs, and GPUs from the Arc series are now supported. The dwc3 driver has also been improved. Significant KVM test changes had already been incorporated earlier in the development cycle, though these were primarily related to renamed test components rather than major architectural changes.
Version 7.2 is scheduled for August.