Microsoft on Friday released linux-msft-wsl-6.18.20.1 as the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) kernel updated against the Linux 6.18 LTS series.
Up to this point WSL2 was relying on the Linux 6.6 LTS series while now there is this new jump forward for Windows Subsystem for Linux to using the latest LTS series, based on Linux 6.18.20 LTS at the moment. Linux 6.6 is now two LTS cycles old, so it’s about time seeing them move to this current series.
Moving to the Linux 6.18 upstream kernel has allowed Microsoft to drop some out-of-tree patches around the VirtIO PMEM support a,d other bits compared to their prior Linux 6.6 base.
In addition to rebasing the kernel version, there are some kernel configuration (Kconfig) adjustments too. The linux-msft-wsl-6.18.20.1 kernel has enabled support for the F2FS and ExFAT file-systems. With ExFAT being a Microsoft-developed file-system, it’s a bit surprising they only enabled it now for their WSL2 kernel.
The Kconfig also now enables ANON_VMA_NAME, various CAN support options, joystick interface support is now enabled, and USB monitor support. Their ARM64 kernel build is also now only enabling FAT support.
More details on the updated Microsoft WSL2 Linux kernel build at GitHub.
