What’s New in Linux 5.10 Networking? Key BPF, TCP, and Driver Enhancements
Linux 5.10 brings a slew of network upgrades—including bundled BPF programs, support for over 255 IPv4 multicast interfaces, MPTCP refinements, Intel IGB XDP support, new Wi‑Fi driver chips, up to 20% performance gains for Mellanox NICs, and a BPF helper that boosts TCP throughput from 10 Gbps to 15 Gbps.
Like most kernel cycles, Linux 5.10 includes many network improvements, from expanded driver coverage to new core network features, and continued progress on (e)BPF.
Support for shipping BPF programs with the kernel and pre‑loading them via a user‑mode driver mechanism at boot; now also supports sleeping BPF programs and other BPF enhancements.
The kernel now allows more than 255 IPv4 multicast interfaces.
Continued improvements to Multipath TCP (MPTCP) code.
XDP support for the Intel IGB driver.
Ath11k Wi‑Fi driver now supports QCA6390 and IPQ6018 chipsets.
Mellanox NICs see up to 20% performance improvement for packets that don’t require heavy offload, allowing multiple packets to share a descriptor entry.
A new BPF helper improves TCP back‑pressure and limits stack traversal; in a developer’s test, TCP flow between container and host over a virtual Ethernet driver increased from ~10 Gbps to 15 Gbps.
Wi‑Fi improvements for Mediatek MT76 chip.
Ethernet support for Broadcom 200G chip.
For more details on Linux 5.10 network changes, you can follow this Git commit:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9ff9b0d392ea08090cd1780fb196f36dbb586529
Signed-in readers can open the original source through BestHub's protected redirect.
This article has been distilled and summarized from source material, then republished for learning and reference. If you believe it infringes your rights, please contactand we will review it promptly.
MaGe Linux Operations
Founded in 2009, MaGe Education is a top Chinese high‑end IT training brand. Its graduates earn 12K+ RMB salaries, and the school has trained tens of thousands of students. It offers high‑pay courses in Linux cloud operations, Python full‑stack, automation, data analysis, AI, and Go high‑concurrency architecture. Thanks to quality courses and a solid reputation, it has talent partnerships with numerous internet firms.
How this landed with the community
Was this worth your time?
0 Comments
Thoughtful readers leave field notes, pushback, and hard-won operational detail here.