It is finally here! The first point release of the Linux 4.4 LTS kernel series, which was announced by Linus Torvalds on January 10, 2016, arrives today for GNU/Linux distributions that already adopted it.

Linux kernel 4.4.1 LTS is a fairly normal maintenance build that promises to address various issues with the x86, AMR64 (AArch64), and PPC (PowerPC) hardware architectures, updates a few USB and networking drivers (mostly Ethernet), adds multiple sound enhancements, and improves the networking stack, especially for things like B.A.T.M.A.N. Advanced, Open vSwitch, IPv6, IPv4, Phonet, SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol), as well as XFRM.

"I'm announcing the release of the 4.4.1 kernel. All users of the 4.4 kernel series must upgrade," said Greg Kroah-Hartman in today's announcement. "The updated 4.4.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.4.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary."

All Linux 4.4 users should update

In numbers, Linux kernel 4.4.1 LTS chances a total of 80 files, with 644 insertions and 280 deletions. As expected, those who use GNU/Linux operating systems powered by a kernel from the long-term supported Linux 4.4 series are urged to upgrade to today's Linux kernel 4.4.1 LTS release as soon as possible, either by installing the new version from the OS' default software repositories, or by downloading the source archive from the kernel.org website or via Softpedia.

If you plan on downloading the Linux kernel 4.4.1 LTS source archive, you need to keep in mind that you'll have to compile it by hand, a process that will take a few hours to complete. Compiling a Linux kernel by hand it not recommended to notice users. With this occasion, we urge OS vendors to get the first point release of Linux kernel 4.4 LTS and push it into the stable repos of their distributions for users to upgrade as soon as possible.