Linux 6.1-rc8 (UPDATED)
So we've finally started calming down, and rc8 is noticeably smaller than previous release candidates.
So everything looks good, and while the calming down may have happened later than I wished for, it did happen. Let's hope this upcoming week is as quiet (or quieter).
The changes here are few enough that scanning through the shortlog below should give you an idea of what's been going on, but it's basically small changes spread all over. Nothing particularly stands out to me.
I'm also happy to see that I already have a few pull requests scheduled for when the 6.2 merge window opens up, so some people are being proactive and want to have everything already lined up for a calm holiday season. Hint, hint.
Linus
UPDATE
Simon Sharwood's take:
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Linus Torvalds releases Linux 6.1 rc8 • The Register
Linus Torvalds has announced an eighth release candidate for version 6.1 of the Linux kernel.
The emperor penguin last week worried that work on this cut of the kernel had not slowed down, so suggested it might need to stretch beyond his preferred seven release candidates.
In his weekly state of the kernel post, Torvalds released rc8 and thanked developers for settling down.
"So we've finally started calming down, and rc8 is noticeably smaller than previous release candidates," he wrote. "So everything looks good, and while the calming down may have happened later than I wished for, it did happen. Let's hope this upcoming week is as quiet (or quieter)."
Torvalds also thanked kernel devs for heeding his words about the merge window for Linux 6.2.
In LWN now:
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Kernel prepatch 6.1-rc8 [LWN.net]
The eighth and presumably final 6.1 kernel prepatch has been released for testing. "So everything looks good, and while the calming down may have happened later than I wished for, it did happen. Let's hope this upcoming week is as quiet (or quieter)."
Dodgy site:
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Linux 6.1 Gets an Extra Week of Testing as it Prepares to Launch Latest Version [Ed: It used to say "Linux Prepares to Launch Unix Version 6.1-rc8"]
One of the most anticipated new features of Linux 6.1 is the merging of the Rust infrastructure code. However, support for the Rust programming language is only very limited, so it will not be able to be used practically for the time being. If you want to try 6.1 before the stable release, you can download the candidate release from kernel.org. Just remember not to use it in a production environment.