Fedora Gets An Unofficial Kernel Based On Clear Linux

While the kernel configuration is just one part of Intel's Clear Linux optimizations for their performance-oriented distribution, a Fedora user has taken the liberty of spinning a Fedora kernel build based upon Clear Linux's kernel configuration.

Fedora user Manas Mangaonkar has spun a Fedora kernel on the project's COPR packaging service for those wishing to try a Clear Linux optimized kernel on Fedora 28 or Fedora Rawhide. The COPR repository can be found at pac23/High_Performance_Clear_Linux_kernel_for_Fedora.

This kernel build came up as part of a Fedora devel list discussion about Clear Linux optimizations and what could potentially end up being relevant to Fedora developers.

The repository message reads, "Intels clear linux kernel packaged for fedora. The aim of this kernel is to mimic similar performance to intels clear linux os on Intel based machines running fedora. Kernel only supports accelerated performance on Intel Cpu's,similar performance on Amd based machines is not guarenteed."

But it's important to keep in mind that Intel developers working on Clear Linux do much more than simply a tuned kernel build. They also apply a variety of packages to the kernel and many other key components like Glibc and GCC when necessary, various compiler optimizations around LTO / FMV / PGO, and a variety of other optimization approaches -- many of which can be found via the information on ClearLinux.org or their open-source code/scripts/patches on GitHub. Back at the start of the year was also my look at Tweaking Ubuntu 17.10 To Try To Run Like Clear Linux -- the Intel developers do a lot and it's not trivial nor just a couple changes to try to achieve similar performance.