Linux Kernel: Major Subsystem Updates and Driver Cleanup
Linus Torvalds merged significant updates to SMB client, networking, I2C, and Xtensa subsystems along with AMD GPU fixes. A substantial cleanup removed multiple legacy ISA and PCMCIA ethernet drivers from the codebase.
Duration: PT2M11S
Episode overview
This episode is a short developer briefing from Linux Kernel.
It explains recent repository work in plain language.
- Show: Linux Kernel
- Published: 2026-04-23T00:00:00Z
- Audio duration: PT2M11S
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 briefing for April 23rd, 2026.
Today we're looking at significant subsystem maintenance with 30 commits but no merged pull requests, indicating active integration work across multiple kernel areas.
Linus Torvalds handled the primary integration activity, merging updates from four key subsystems. The SMB client received extensive fixes including security patches for out-of-bounds reads and ACL handling, plus performance improvements through AES-CMAC library adoption and seven SMB 3.1.1 compression fixes. The…
Dave Airlie merged AMD GPU fixes targeting idle state management, ASPM functionality, and bounds checking in the AMDKFD subsystem.
The most significant cleanup came from Andrew Lunn's systematic removal of legacy ethernet drivers. Four vintage drivers were eliminated: the wd80x3 ISA driver from 1993-94, the ultra ISA driver from the same era, the AX88190 PCMCIA driver from 2001, and the Fujitsu fmvj18x PCMCIA driver from 2002. This removal…
What's next: Watch for continued subsystem stabilization as we approach the 7.1 release candidate phase. The driver removal initiative may expand to other legacy hardware categories.
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