New Linux Patches Improving Hibernation Speed In 2026

A new patch series being worked on is enhancing the Linux kernel's hibernation allocator to allow for faster performance when hibernating the system.

Linux developer Youngjun Park at LG posted a request for comments (RFC) today with a set of ten patches to improve the image slot allocation and I/O around the Linux hibernation code. Youngjun Park explained in the patch series on the Linux kernel mailing list:

"This series improves how hibernation allocates swap slots for its image. It starts from a few observations about what happens while the image is written. With them the allocator can hand the image contiguous runs, the image I/O can be batched per run, and hibernation gets faster. Contiguous I/O pattern is friendly to flash device also."

The improvements make not only the hibernation allocator code faster but also simpler and enabling batching of image reads and writes. Testing within a QEMU VM of this tentative code found the write times reduced by 18~25% while the read times were 11~20% faster.

The patches aren't yet complete but so far are looking promising for those interested in faster hibernation on Linux. Those interested can see these initial patches out for comment on the Linux kernel mailing list.