Linux kernel 6.18 has been released with significant improvements across gaming devices, hardware support, and security. Key updates include better support for handheld gaming PCs like GPD Win and ASUS ROG Ally, GPU driver enhancements for NVIDIA and Arm Mali, and per-CPU memory allocation optimizations called 'sheaves' for faster multitasking. The release controversially removes bcachefs filesystem code due to maintainer process violations. Other highlights include 16x faster exFAT loading, haptic touchpad support, expanded laptop hardware compatibility, BPF program signing for security, and UDP performance improvements up to 47%. This version is expected to become the next Long-Term Support kernel.
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