The latest iteration of the Linux kernel has been released, promising a host of improvements.

Version 2.6.23 includes a Completely Fair Scheduler, a simpler read-ahead mechanism, a 'Linux-on-Linux' para-virtualisation hypervisor and Xen guest support.

The kernel also makes Slub the default slab allocator, and includes some bug fixes.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds said on the Linux Kernel Mailing List: "Yeah, it got delayed, not because of any huge issues, but because of various bug fixes trickling in and causing me to reset my 'release clock' all the time.

"But it's out there now, and hopefully better for the wait. Ignoring those arch updates, there's basically a number of mostly one-liners (mostly in drivers, but there's some networking fixes and some VFS/VM fixes there too)."

Crucially the team has decided to include SELinux protection, an issue that recently provoked some lively debate between Torvalds and security researchers.