Linux 7.2 kernel released with cache-aware scheduling and AI-era fixes

The headline change is Cache Aware Scheduling, a feature several years in the making. Torvalds explained its goal: “to aggregate tasks sharing data to the same LLC cache domain, thereby reducing cache bouncing and cache misses, and improving data access efficiency.” Previously, the scheduler balanced load across CPU cores without checking whether threads on separate cores shared memory, so threads would re-fetch the same data, wasting time and resources. The new mechanism includes guardrails to avoid overloading a cache domain and does not move a thread whose process already consumes more than 25 percent of CPU time or more than one-third of a domain's load. ZDNet notes that workloads such as multithreaded servers, AI and ML compute jobs, and some games stand to benefit the most.

The release also brings a wide set of driver and file-system improvements. It includes initial AMDGPU support for HDMI 2.1 Fixed Rate Link (FRL), which enables uncompressed 4K at 120 Hz and 8K video. Experimental folios up to 2 MB are introduced, and the I/O-map conversion work continues for ext4 and XFS. exFAT, common on SD cards and USB sticks, now uses the kernel's iomap, a change that ZDNet says can improve read/write speed on such devices by as much as 87 percent. Windows NTFS handling has been improved as well, along with assorted bug fixes.

On the networking side, Linux 7.2 adds Intel-developed USB4STREAM protocol support, enabling raw host-to-host streaming over USB4/Thunderbolt links. This is described as a “super simple” way to transfer raw packets from one host to another, useful for quickly backing up a system or sharing web cameras and other peripherals while bypassing the traditional Linux networking stack. The kernel also gains Wi-Fi Aware, which supports device-to-device Wi-Fi connections without network infrastructure—a capability ZDNet likens to “Apple AirDrop on steroids”—and early Wi-Fi 8/UHR groundwork.

Torvalds' release announcement touched on the growing role of AI in kernel development. Noting that the final week of the release cycle was “bigger than I would have wished for,” he wrote, “It is what it is: the new normal with a lot of fixes, many of them due to review by various AI tools.” He also commented on how AI-discovered bugs are handled, saying, “AI-detected bugs are pretty much by definition not secret, and treating them on some private list is a waste of time for everybody involved.” He added that “AI tools are great, but only if they actually help, rather than cause unnecessary pain and pointless make-believe work.”

There was one notable rollback. Late testing found a performance regression in a “fairer” GPU scheduler approach on some AMD graphics configurations, so the new kernel reverts to FIFO scheduling rather than shipping that change. The Linux 7.2 source is available now, but ZDNet advises that most users wait for distro kernel packages and validation, especially on production systems. Users on fall releases such as Ubuntu 26.10 are likely to encounter the new features then.