公式情報：Linuxカーネル6.12はLTS版として提供され、「数年間」サポートされる予定です。

A renowned Linux kernel developer, Greg Kroah-Hartman, announced today that the Linux 6.12 kernel series has been officially marked as LTS (Long-Term Support) on the kernel.org website, with an expected lifespan of at least two years.

The Linux kernel 6.12 was released on November 17, 2024, featuring real-time 'PREEMPT_RT' support, a new scheduler 'sched_ext', QR code encoding of DRM panic messages, and many new and updated drivers, enhancing hardware support.

Linux 6.12 is a significant news item today, included in the list of long-term release kernels, and is expected to receive bug fixes and security updates until December 2026.

This was officially confirmed by Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux kernel developer and maintainer, in a post to the Linux 4.19.325 kernel mailing list. This kernel was marked as EOL (End of Life) on the kernel.org website and is the last in the Linux 4.19 series.

The Linux 6.12 kernel is gradually being introduced into the stable software repositories of popular GNU/Linux distributions such as Arch Linux, openSUSE Tumbleweed, and Fedora Linux. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to upgrade to the Linux 6.12 LTS as soon as possible.

The Linux kernel 6.12 joins many other long-term support kernel branches. These include Linux 6.6 LTS, Linux 6.1 LTS, Linux 5.15 LTS, Linux 5.10 LTS, and Linux 5.4 LTS, all of which are expected to receive official support until December 31, 2026.

Typically, the support period for new LTS kernels is four years, but if hardware manufacturers or other companies require a longer support period for long-term support kernels, support for two years is hoped for.