Linus Torvalds announced Linux kernel 7.1 with no major last-minute issues. A key change is the fully rewritten NTFS filesystem, which now offers complete write support and uses the kernel’s iomap infrastructure. The existing ntfs3 driver also receives minor improvements.
Additional storage and filesystem updates include zero-copy I/O support in the ublk user-space block driver, decreasing unnecessary data copies. Btrfs’ shutdown operation is now stable, no longer marked experimental. ExFAT now supports fallocate() pre-allocation, and the CIFS client adds support for temporary files via O_TMPFILE.
Linux 7.1 also introduces BPF support to io_uring, enabling its main dispatch loop to be replaced by a BPF program. The core kernel’s clone3() system call now includes three new flags for process management, such as automatic child process reaping and termination linked to pidfd handling.
Memory management improvements include modernization of the swap subsystem and removal of the old swap map, resulting in better efficiency and lowered memory usage. Linux 7.1 also addresses a long-standing issue where terminated control groups remained due to pinned memory folios.
Scheduler updates introduce initial sub-scheduler support in sched_ext, the extensible scheduler class. While not yet complete, this foundation enables future development of custom CPU schedulers for different control groups.
Importantly, this release removes support for several legacy 486-era x86 subarchitectures, such as M486, M486SX, and ELAN. In networking, UDP Lite support has been dropped, and IPv6 must now be built directly into the kernel or disabled, as it can no longer be built as a module.
On the security side, Linux 7.1 enforces stricter default permission overrides for /proc/PID/mem access. Moreover, the release adds new security-module hooks for overlay filesystems and Unix-domain sockets. The Landlock security module now uses the new socket hook to offer additional policy options.
Kernel Rust support now requires Rust 1.85 and bindgen 0.71.1. The kernel-doc tool has been significantly rewritten to use a C tokenizer rather than relying on regular expressions.
Linux 7.1 offers broad hardware support, adding or improving compatibility with components from Qualcomm, Rockchip, Tenstorrent, ESWIN, Loongson, Apple, Lenovo, and others. Notable user-facing additions include Lenovo Legion Go S controller support, Apple SMC battery and power monitoring, new hardware-monitoring drivers, updated graphics and display components, and expanded support for USB, sound, media, GPIO, and clock controllers.
Graphics updates include support for DRM-RAS, which allows GPU and accelerator drivers to expose error counters and reliability data to user space. Hardware monitoring now supports additional controllers and sensors from Infineon, LattePanda, Sony, Microchip, and others.
Virtualization improvements include limited support for Protected KVM for anonymous memory on Arm CPUs, though it is not yet ready for general use. KVM also adds support for the Arm virtual generic interrupt controller v5.
Finally, this release continues to remove outdated and unused code, including PCMCIA host controllers and many legacy networking drivers and protocols, eliminating over 140,000 lines.
Linux 7.1 is available for download at kernel.org. Rolling-release distribution users will receive the update first, with broader availability expected in the coming weeks.
