The simple and lightweight Arch Linux distribution has kicked off 2021 with a new ISO release powered by the latest Linux 5.10 LTS kernel series and up-to-date components.
Arch Linux 2021.01.01 is now available for those who want to install the powerful, rolling-release distribution on their personal computers, and it’s the first Arch Linux ISO powered by the latest and greatest Linux 5.10 LTS kernel series, which is an LTS (Long-Term Support) branch that brings numerous new features and enhanced hardware support.
These include support for the ARMv8.5 memory tagging extension, support for Amazon Nitro enclaves, support for the SM2 digital-signature algorithm, memory hints for other processes, AMD SEV-ES support for encryption of the guest register state in virtualized guests, virtio-fs performance improvements, and support for RISC-V architecture to boot on EFI systems.
On top of that, Linux kernel 5.10 LTS improves the EXT4 file system to dramatically reduce the latency of multiple file operations, adds a new mount option called explicit-open to the ZoneFS file system, adds a new “volatile” mode to the OverlayFS file system for ignoring all forms of fsync() calls, and gives a performance boost to the Btrfs file system when handling fsync() operations.
Of course, the Arch Linux 2021.01.01 also includes all the latest package updates and security patches that have been pushed through the distro’s software repositories during December 2020. But, being a rolling release distro, existing users will get all these goodies via a standard system update by running the sudo pacman -Syu command in a terminal emulator or using their favorite graphical package management tool.
Arch Linux 2021.01.01 is mostly here for new deployments, so you won’t have to download hundreds of updates from the repositories after installing the GNU/Linux distribution. You can download the ISO image right now using the direct download link below or from the official website, where you’ll also find Vagrant and Docker images.
