Linux 6.16 debuts OpenVPN DCO, TCP zero-copy, and major memory upgrades

Linux kernel 6.16 is now a stable release following its seventh release candidate, ready for widespread deployment. Key upgrades include the OpenVPN Data Channel Offload driver, which improves VPN speed by moving data operations into kernel space, and TCP zero-copy support, allowing direct transmission of device memory like GPU data to the network for better performance.

The update enables five-level page tables by default, expanding virtual memory limits from 256TB to 128PB on Intel and AMD CPUs. Security improvements include Intel TDX for isolating virtual machines, hardware-wrapped filesystem encryption keys, the return of the randstruct plugin for data randomization, and IMA records persisting across soft reboots.

Ext4 gains over 37% speed boosts on large I/O tasks, XFS adds atomic write support, and FUSE improves directory reading. Hardware support expands to Apple Magic Mouse 2 (USB-C), new controllers, and features like OneXPlayer charge limits. KVM support for RISC-V is now stable, ARM64 adds nested virtualization, and the kernel continues progress on Rust driver support and SELinux/NFS enhancements.