[$] The first half of the 6.8 merge window

The 6.8 merge window has gotten off to a relatively slow start; reasons forthat include a significant scheduler performance regression that LinusTorvalds stumbledinto and has spent time tracking down. Even so, 4,282 non-mergechangesets have found their way into the mainline repository for the 6.8release as of this writing. These commits have brought a number ofsignificant changes and new features.