Linux 7.4 Sound: "The AI Flood Continues"

Linux sound subsystem maintainer Takashi Iwai of SUSE opened the Linux 7.4 sound pull request by observing that "the AI flood continues": AI and LLM-based tools keep devising a steady stream of new patches while also surfacing previously unnoticed kernel bugs.

Iwai described it as another busy cycle, spanning everything from hardening of the core code to support for new platforms and codecs.

Kernel fixes

The core ALSA code was hardened against a number of race conditions. The compression offload code received a buffer leak fix, the JACK code got race fixes, and there were further race conditions and more routine C bugs addressed. The OSS sequencer emulation code has been marked deprecated in 7.4.

New hardware

On the hardware front, Linux 7.4 adds support for compressed audio playback via SOF IPC4 on Intel Tigerlake and newer. It also brings AMD ACP 7.0/7.F sound IP support with SoundWire and the PDM controller — a block aimed at upcoming Ryzen Zen 6 platforms.

There are also numerous quirks for Intel and AMD laptops from Lenovo, ASUS, HP, Acer, HONOR, MSI, and others.

New codecs

New codec drivers cover the ESS ES9039Q2M, the Nuvoton NAU83G60 amplifier, and the Senary SN624x SoundWire SDCA codec. Also new is the Qualcomm QAIF driver for their Shikra platform.

Source: Phoronix