Linux 6.13 Released: What’s New in the Latest Kernel Update

On January 19, 2025, Linus Torvalds announced the stable release of Linux 6.13. This version arrived on schedule, two months after the release of Linux 6.12 (LTS). The update includes over 14,000 changes contributed by 2,086 developers. In total, more than 15,000 files were updated, with approximately 600,000 lines of code added and over 400,000 removed.

Key Updates and Improvements

Linux 6.13 offers extensive support for new hardware, including:

• Processors such as AMD Ryzen X3D, EPYC 9005 Turin, and Intel Xe3;
• Older Apple devices (iPads and iPhones up to M1);
• Controllers like Realtek RTL9300 I2C and AMD ASF I2C;
• Raspberry Pi RP1 cameras.

Important changes include support for atomic writes in XFS and Ext4, a multigrain timestamps mechanism, adaptive polling in the networking subsystem, AutoFDO optimization, and POSIX extensions in SMB3. Additionally, the release features the AMD 3D V‑Cache Optimizer driver and expanded tools for Rust  Issues and Future Development

Interestingly, a patch from Microsoft caused test failures due to non-standard submission and insufficient review. It has since been rejected and sent back for revision.

Linux 6.13 represents a significant step forward in performance, hardware support, and security. The update will soon be available for download on kernel.org, while the merge window for Linux 6.14 is already open.