Linux kernel 7.2 released with Cache Aware Scheduling, Btrfs updates and Apple M3 support

Linux kernel 7.2 has been officially released, bringing Cache Aware Scheduling, Btrfs large folios enabled by default, broader hardware support, and major updates across networking, virtualization, storage, and CPU architectures. The release also adds more groundwork for AMD Zen 6 and lets Apple M3 MacBooks boot the mainline kernel for the first time, although only to a serial console for now.

One of the biggest additions is Cache Aware Scheduling, developed over more than a year and available through CONFIG_SCHED_CACHE. It keeps related tasks on cores sharing the same last level cache instead of spreading them across different cache zones. Linux 7.2 also continues removing legacy i486 code, makes TSC and CX8 requirements unconditional on x86, enables Btrfs large folios by default, and adds experimental huge folios up to 2 MB. AMD updates include Zen 6 preparation, HDMI 2.1 FRL support in AMDGPU, the upstream AMD ISP4 webcam driver, and improvements to HFI and power management, while Intel gains additional support for Diamond Rapids, Nova Lake H, and Panther Lake H.

Other hardware and networking changes include support for NVIDIA GA100 accelerators through Nouveau, Realtek R8152 10 Gbit Ethernet, RISC V ESWIN SoCs, USB4STREAM transfers between computers over USB4 or Thunderbolt, and additional ASUS, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface devices. The final development week included several late reverts, particularly around DRM scheduling, with Torvalds saying that "it may not be pretty, but it's the correct way to deal with 'oh, that code wasn't ready and caused problems'."