After only few months from the Linux Kernel 6.11, Linus Torvalds announced today the release and general availability of Linux kernel 6.12, the latest stable version of the Linux kernel (available on kernel.org) that introduces several new features and improvements. This update should become the next LTS release.

What’s New?

• Scheduler: The headline feature in Linux 6.12 is mainline support for PREEMPT_RT. Linux 6.12 also debuts sched_ext which is described in its documentation as “a scheduler class whose behavior can be defined by a set of BPF programs – the BPF scheduler”. 
• Filesystem: XFS support for block sizes larger than page size and gains a pair of new ioctl() commands. The nsfs now provides more info on mount namespaces. NFS now supports the ‘LOCALIO’ protocol. FUSE subsystem now supports ID-mapped mounts.
• CPU: A slew of new RISC-V CPU ISA extensions are supported in Linux 6.12; hybrid CPU scaling in the Intel P-State driver lands ahead of upcoming Intel Core Ultra 2000 chips; and AMD P-State driver improves AMD Boost and AMD Preferred Core features.
• Device: Linux 6.12 introduces support for ARM-powered GameForce Ace gaming handheld, ODROID-M15 and ODROID-M2 SBCs, Sensors on OneXPlayer gaming devices, Initial mainline support for the Raspberry Pi 5.

Ubuntu 25.04 will use Linux kernel 6.14 by default!

See also: Linux kernel version history.