Linux Kernel 5.6 has added support for USB4

USB4 devices are expected to come out later this year, now, the Linux 5.6 kernel had added initial support for USB4. Support for USB4 in Linux 5.6 is a much-anticipated feature, and it has indeed been implemented now. The Linux kernel mailing list shows that initial support for USB4 has been added to the Linux Kernel 5.6-rc1.

The USB4 specification was announced in September last year. The reason the Linux kernel provided USB4 support so quickly was USB4 was based on Thunderbolt 3. Therefore, enabling USB4 support in the Linux kernel is largely based on existing Thunderbolt Linux code.

In addition, Intel’s large open-source team also provided the initial USB4 code for the Linux 5.6 kernel. This USB4 support also shifted the Kconfig option from Thunderbolt to the USB4 naming scheme.