Arch Linux 2018.05.01 is now available for download

May 3, 2018 16:50 GMT  ·  By

If you've wanted to deploy the Arch Linux operating system on your computers with the latest Linux 4.16 kernel series out-of-the-box, now you can with May 2018's snapshot.

The Arch Linux 2018.05.01 snapshot for May 2018 is here, and it's the first to be powered by the Linux 4.16 kernel series, which brings mitigations for Meltdown and both variants of the Spectre vulnerabilities for ARM64 (AArch64) architectures, as well as Spectre mitigations for IBM System z (s390) architectures.

Linux kernel 4.16 also updates numerous drivers for best-in-class hardware support, and adds various improvements to existing features, such as KVM (Kernel-based virtual machine) support for AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization, Memory Protection Keys support for the POWER architecture, and others.

In fact, the Arch Linux 2018.05.01 ISO image comes with Linux kernel 4.16.5, which isn't exactly the latest kernel version at the moment of writing, as new versions are released at short intervals. The stable Arch Linux repositories already contain Linux kernel 4.16.6, and the most recent 4.16.7 release is being prepared in the testing repo.

Arch Linux 2018.05.01 is here only for new deployments

As usual, the Arch Linux 2018.05.01 snapshot is intended only for new deployments of the Linux-based operating systems, including fresh installs or reinstalls. If you have a healthy Arch Linux installation, there's no need to download the new ISO image, just make sure you have all the latest updates installed.

Updating your Arch Linux installation is quite easy, as all you have to do is to run the "sudo pacman -Syu" command in a terminal emulator. Of course, don't forget that you'll have to reboot your computer after installing a new kernel version. But, for new deployments, you can download Arch Linux 2018.05.01 from here.