Kernel 6.18. When will it be available?.
Hi. First of all, i'm new on Arch Linux, so i apologize if I'm asking something that shouldn't be asked here. As I understand it, Arch is a rolling release, so I'm a little surprised that the automatic jump to kernel version 6.18 hasn't happened yet. Other Rolling Release distros have already switched to this kernel many days ago. So, I would appreciate any brief explanation of how the kernel version change occurs in Arch Linux. Thanks very much in advance. Regards, and Happy Year 2026 for everybody!. Jose Luis. -- https://lordofunix.org/ Not Registered GNU/Hurd User. Registered BSD User 51101. Registered Linux User #213309. Memories..... You are talking about memories. Rick Deckard. Blade Runner.
Hi, On Fri, Jan 2, 2026 at 2:02 PM Jose Luis Alarcon Sanchez < jlalarcon@fastservice.com> wrote:
As I understand it, Arch is a rolling release, so I'm a little surprised that the automatic jump to kernel version 6.18 hasn't happened yet.
It was among the first to ship with version 6.18, and its most recent build date is: Version : 6.18.2.arch2-1 Build Date : Thu 18 Dec 2025 07:00:18 PM CET Best, M. -- keyId: 0x4EDB194BC2B1A751 fpr: 0E79 1642 72EB 9AC9 4D53 2DE2 4EDB 194B C2B1 A751
On Fri, 2026-01-02 at 14:10 +0100, Matteo Piccinini wrote:
It was among the first to ship with version 6.18, and its most recent build date is:
Version : 6.18.2.arch2-1 Build Date : Thu 18 Dec 2025 07:00:18 PM CET
In addition, Linux 6.18 was made available in the core-testing repository earlier than in the core repository. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Official_repositories#core-testing $ grep 'linux (' /var/log/pacman.log | grep -v util | tail -4 [2025-12-06T15:36:26+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux (6.17.9.arch1-1 -> 6.18.arch1-1) [2025-12-13T11:15:25+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux (6.18.arch1-1 -> 6.18.1.arch1-1) [2025-12-14T07:52:28+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux (6.18.1.arch1-1 -> 6.18.1.arch1-2) [2025-12-19T07:31:44+0100] [ALPM] upgraded linux (6.18.1.arch1-2 -> 6.18.2.arch2-1)
On 02/01/2026 14:02, Jose Luis Alarcon Sanchez wrote:
Hi. First of all, i'm new on Arch Linux, so i apologize if I'm asking something that shouldn't be asked here. As I understand it, Arch is a rolling release, so I'm a little surprised that the automatic jump to kernel version 6.18 hasn't happened yet.
Linux 6.18.2 it's been in [core] since almost 2 weeks ago: https://archlinux.org/packages/core/x86_64/linux/ Perhaps you are using an outdated mirror? Cheers, Iyán -- Iyán Méndez Veiga GPG Key: 204C 461F BA8C 81D1 0327 E647 422E 3694 311E 5AC1
On Fri Jan 2, 2026 at 2:02 PM CET, Jose Luis Alarcon Sanchez wrote:
Hi. First of all, i'm new on Arch Linux, so i apologize if I'm asking something that shouldn't be asked here. As I understand it, Arch is a rolling release, so I'm a little surprised that the automatic jump to kernel version 6.18 hasn't happened yet.
Other Rolling Release distros have already switched to this kernel many days ago. So, I would appreciate any brief explanation of how the kernel version change occurs in Arch Linux.
Thanks very much in advance.
Regards, and Happy Year 2026 for everybody!. Jose Luis.
Hi! First of all, welcome to Arch! :D *Usually* Arch skips x.y.0 kernel releases. If the team is able to make it available, it will, but customarily Arch waits until x.y.1 is released. This isn't against the concept of a rolling release... it's just about resources, priorities, checking that everything is in order, etc. Rolling release doesn't mean "always up to date with upstream," but only that distribution doesn't have a merge window-freeze-release cycle (e.g., like Debian or Ubuntu do). Also, point-zero kernel releases aren't that meaningful either. Torvalds has stated many times that he sees version numbers "meaningless." It's the patches that matter, and regarding patches, Arch does keep up with the latest bug and security fixes. Happy 2026! Ari -- Ariadna Vigo https://ariadnavigo.xyz gpg 0xC948873069856D6D
participants (5)
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Ariadna Vigo
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Iyán Méndez Veiga
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Jose Luis Alarcon Sanchez
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Matteo Piccinini
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Ralf Mardorf