Linus Torvalds has announced the release of Linux 6.18-rc1, marking the start of the release candidate phase for the upcoming kernel version. He described the preceding two-week merge window as 'one of the good merge windows,' noting its average size and lack of serious issues during testing. The kernel includes extensive driver updates and enhancements across various subsystems.
The release of Linux 6.18-rc1 occurred on October 12, 2025, following a two-week merge window that Torvalds characterized as smooth and ordinary. In his announcement email, Torvalds stated that the release size sits 'right in the middle of the pack' among recent iterations, with no anomalies in the shortlog of merges. He added that this was one of those rare cycles where he 'didn't have to bisect anything on [his] test machines,' suggesting potential stability as testing progresses.
Roughly half of the changes focus on drivers, supporting a widening array of hardware, while the remainder covers virtual file systems (VFS), filesystems, architecture updates—many involving Device Tree enhancements—tooling improvements, and continued Rust integration for kernel modules. Key contributors include Greg Kroah-Hartman for peripheral drivers like USB and Thunderbolt, Dave Airlie for DRM graphics updates, Borislav Petkov for x86 overhauls including microcode loading and Spectre mitigations, and Rafael Wysocki for power management refinements.
Notable features in Linux 6.18 include new drivers such as the Rocket accelerator for Rockchip SoCs' NPU, Tyr as a Rust-based DRM driver for Arm Mali GPUs, and DM-PCACHE as a persistent cache target in Device Mapper. Processor support expands with Retpoline optimizations for Intel E cores, AMD Versal TRNG driver, and Device Trees for Apple M2 Pro, Max, and Ultra from the Asahi Linux project. Virtualization improvements feature KVM x86 CET support for AMD and Intel, AMD Secure AVIC enabling, and better handling of 255+ vCPUs on AMD EPYC servers.
Filesystems like XFS now enable online fsck support by default, with updates to ext4, Btrfs, and others from maintainers such as Ted Ts’o and David Sterba. Security enhancements include hardening efforts by Kees Cook and interleaved SHA-256 in the crypto library. Over 100 contributors participated, covering subsystems from networking and io_uring to BPF and IOMMU.
Linux 6.18 is expected to become the 2025 long-term support (LTS) kernel upon its stable release in December. Testers are encouraged to evaluate it for regressions, with further release candidates to follow.