Linux Kernel 7.1 Released with Rewritten NTFS Support

Source Domain: linuxiac.com

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…

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