# Linux 7.1: New NTFS Driver, Intel FRED by Default and 140,000 Fewer Lines

- **Published on:** 2026-07-21
- **Category:** Releases
- **Original page:** https://linuxgratis.com/en/articles/linux-kernel-7-1

Linux kernel 7.1 ships a rewritten NTFS driver with full write support, enables Intel FRED by default, drops 486 support and removes UDP Lite. A look at the current stable series.

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Linus Torvalds released the [Linux kernel](/en/linux-kernel) **7.1** on **June 14th, 2026**, and the series is already up to 7.1.3. It is a meaty release: a rewritten NTFS driver, an Intel technology that finally comes off the bench, and over 140,000 lines of old code swept away.

## An NTFS that finally writes properly

The headline change is the **new NTFS driver**. It brings full write support built on delayed allocation, iomap and folio integration — three pieces that together improve write performance and, above all, stability. It comes with a matching set of userspace utilities, **ntfsprogs-plus**.

If you dual-boot with [Windows](/en/windows-desktop) or move external drives between machines, this matters more than it looks: NTFS has been the weak spot of that coexistence for years, with implementations that worked but that nobody quite trusted with a serious write.

## Intel FRED comes out of the drawer

**FRED** (Flexible Return and Event Delivery) is now **enabled by default**. Until now you had to boot with the `fred=on` flag by hand. The switch was deliberately held back until the feature could be evaluated on publicly available hardware, and having been tested thoroughly enough it has flipped from opt-in to opt-out. It is a deep rework of how the CPU handles events and exceptions, with gains in both performance and robustness.

## Spring cleaning, at scale

7.1 cuts **over 140,000 lines of legacy code**, including all x86 sub-architecture support from the **486** era. It sounds drastic, but it is a healthy constant in Linux: dropping what nobody uses makes maintenance simpler and shrinks the failure surface.

One removal deserves a close look: **UDP Lite is gone entirely**. It is a rarely used transport protocol, but if you have a custom kernel config or an application stack that depends on it, it will break silently. Worth checking before you jump.

## The rest of the list

- A new **Landlock** access right for pathname UNIX domain sockets.
- Improvements to the **amd-pstate** and **intel_idle** drivers for power management.
- **exFAT** can preallocate clusters without zeroing them, reducing file fragmentation.
- On **Arm**, the kernel uses new instructions to speed up *futex* operations, and improves Memory Partitioning and Monitoring (MPAM) support.
- **CMEM Latency PMU** support for NVIDIA Tegra410 SoCs, **BPF fsession** on IBM System/390 and **seccomp()** on the Alpha architecture.

## Should you upgrade?

If you run a distribution that tracks recent kernels ([Arch](/en/arch), [Fedora](/en/fedora) and friends), 7.1 will reach you through the usual channels. If you are on a long-lived stable like [Debian](/en/debian) or [Ubuntu LTS](/en/ubuntu), you will stay on whichever branch applies — and that is fine, that is exactly the LTS bargain. The thing to check before jumping is still the same: UDP Lite and any custom configuration depending on freshly removed code.

The full breakdown is at [Linux 7.1 on KernelNewbies](https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_7.1), and you can track versions and support dates on the [Linux kernel page](/en/linux-kernel).