Linux Kernel: Major Subsystem Updates and BPF Token Fixes
Linus Torvalds merged major updates across multiple kernel subsystems including tracing, crypto, and device mapper, while Alexei Starovoitov fixed BPF token handling for subprograms. The activity includes 30 commits with no merged pull requests.
Duration: PT2M4S
Episode overview
This episode is a short developer briefing from Linux Kernel.
It explains recent repository work in plain language.
- Show: Linux Kernel
- Published: 2026-04-15T00:00:00Z
- Audio duration: PT2M4S
Transcript excerpt
This excerpt keeps the crawler page concise. Listen to the episode or use the RSS feed for the full update.
Good morning, this is your Linux Kernel update for April 15th, 2026.
Today's activity centers on major subsystem updates merged by Linus Torvalds. The tracing subsystem received significant enhancements with new remote buffers for pKVM hypervisor tracing, allowing kernel-hypervisor memory mapping for trace commands. The implementation includes a simplified single-context ring buffer…
Torvalds also merged substantial crypto updates, removing CPU-based DES acceleration and simd skcipher support while adding new test vectors and driver improvements. The QAT driver gained zstd support and wireless mode capabilities for GEN6 hardware. Device mapper updates include new formatting functionality for…
Additional major merges include Xen updates with console driver fixes addressing boot hangups, IOMMU improvements with RISC-V IO-page-table format support, and ATA subsystem cleanups focusing on tag handling and error recovery.
Alexei Starovoitov addressed a critical BPF issue where subprograms failed token capability checks, preventing them from appearing in /proc/kallsyms and blocking freplace operations. Eduard Zingerman's fix ensures BPF tokens are properly copied from main programs to…
The…
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