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Linux 6.17 Now Makes Multi-Core/SMP Support Unconditional
Earlier this year Linux kernel patches were posted for making SMP support unconditional so the kernel is always built for multi-core capabilities
The patches standardize the Linux scheduler on the Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) to avoid unnecessary complexity and obstacles with the non-SMP patches likely never used but posing a maintenance and complexity burden on kernel developers. If by chance anyone is still running a single core PC with an up-to-date Linux kernel in 2025, it still works albeit with some increased overhead due to additional primitives and data structures from the SMP-enabled kernel. Making SMP unconditional was merged as part of the scheduler updates for Linux 6.17.
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