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ZDNET

ZDNET

20 years later, real-time Linux makes it to the kernel - really

ZDNET
Summary
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80% Informative

An RTOS is a specialized operating system designed to handle time-critical tasks with precision and reliability.

Real-time Linux code is now baked into all Linux distros as of the forthcoming Linux 6.12 kernel.

This means Linux will soon start appearing in more mission-critical devices and industrial hardware.

After two decades of development, the Linux real-time patch finally has been merged into the mainline kernel.

The final hurdle for full integration was reworking the kernel's print_k function, a critical debugging tool dating back to 1991 .

With it, the kernel is fully preemptible, which enables it to respond to events within microseconds.

This capability is crucial for applications that require precise timing.