Linux kernel 5.18 was released in late May 2022 and is another short-lived kernel series. It introduces new features such as support for tracking “user events” on the system, support for AMD’s “host system management port” feature, support for 64-bit integrity checksums on NVMe devices, support for Intel’s “hardware feedback interface, and as indirect branch tracking support for the x86 architecture.

kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman recently released Linux kernel 5.18.19, which appears to be a very minor patch containing only six changes. Most importantly, Linux kernel 5.18.19 is also the last maintenance release of the Linux 5.17 kernel series, which is now end of life and will no longer receive security and bug fix updates.

Officials are urging users to upgrade to the Linux 5.19 kernel series. GNU / Linux distribution maintainers and users who prefer to compile their own kernel can now get the latest Linux 5.19 kernel from the kernel.org website, but keep in mind that this is also a short-lived branch that may be supported until late October 2022.

Several popular rolling release distributions already run Linux kernel 5.19, including Arch Linux and openSUSE Tumbleweed, and Ubuntu users can easily install Linux kernel 5.19 from the Ubuntu Kernel Mainline PPA. If you don’t want to upgrade the kernel every few months, you can stick to the Long Term Support (LTS) branch, such as Linux 5.15 LTS.

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AMD is preparing its next-generation RDNA 3 architecture and AMD’s CDNA-based gas pedal, also known as AMD Instinct, to enable its new hardware on a “block-by-block basis” when the company begins rolling out its latest computer components later this year. The current state of development is not as obvious as previous Linux driver patches.

AMD has not reported whether they have completed the update to Linux 5.20 kernel support, but they are expected to be very close to completion as the AMD Radeon RX 7000 GPU is set to debut in the coming months. However, it is assumed that AMD’s integration of their RDNA 3 update with Linux 5.20 is not yet confirmed after the product launch. In this case, open source users will have to rely on third-party solutions until the company is able to fully finalize the integration in the process.

Today, the final DRM-Next feature pull shows more AMD GPU Linux driver integration just as AMD can add previous code and fixes to the Linux 5.20 kernel. The updates added to the kernel by AMD include.

“Display Core Next (DCN) v3.2 block

Support DCN 3.1.4

SMU13 update

Soft reset handling for GFX11 (RDNA 3) graphics and SDMA 6 blocks

Soft reset processing support for GFX11 is “critical to ensure any stalls or issues with the current patch.” SubVP” is a new display core (DC) component that allows subviewport functionality. This component is a new DCN 3.2 hardware feature, but it is not yet known what the full capabilities of the SubVP feature will be.

AMD’s latest pull also adds “DC SubVP support”. AMD’s pull update for Linux also integrates DisplayPort Multistream Transport (DP MST), many audio patches, and modifies the GART size on recent APUs to add Scatter and Gather display support. Finally, AMD has also integrated queries for the GFXOFF status of the VanGogh series APUs, enhanced buffer object field fixing, and some AMDKFD modifications.

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As noted a few months ago, however, recent AMD graphics code work has focused on enabling new GPU instructions based on IP blocks, rather than bringing a huge patch in one fell swoop.

The pull request of the day mentioned a number of DCN improvements, as well as MMHUB, SMU, VCN and the other IP blocks that make up the next generation of AMD GPUs.

With AMD’s incremental approach, it’s hard to tell exactly where it is already, but let’s hope that Linux 5.20 brings good enough support for the Radeon RX 7000 series “RDNA 3 GPUs”.

Screenshot (via Phoenix)

It is planned that the Linux 5.20 merge window will open around late July, while the stable release will not be available until around late September.

Referring to the legendary AMD release schedule, both Linux 5.20 and Mesa 22.2 are expected to provide stable upstream kernel support at the beginning of the RDNA 3 graphics card release.

Finally, in addition to the enablement of new modules, the day’s AMD DRM-Next update includes a variety of fixes — from eDP display to USB-C and other issues.

There is also initial support for devcoredump, enabling high-priority graphics queues for compatible GPUs, GPU reset improvements, ASPM power management support for more GPUs, and various other changes.

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