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Linux 7.1-rc3
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Linux 7.1-rc3
It's Sunday afternoon, and we all know what that means: Mother's Day.
But also your regularly scheduled kernel release candidate.
And I think this answers the "is 7.1 continuing the larger size pattern that we saw with 7.0?" question, and the answer is yes: that wasn't a fluke brought on by a .0 release - it simply seems to be the new normal.
This time around, about a third of the patch is networking - both on the driver side and in core. And related selftests.
The rest is pretty spread out, with other drivers (sound and gpu being the bigger ones, but there's a little bit of everything in there), architecture updates (powerpc and x86, but also some loongarch and parisc), and various other fixes (smb updates, various core kernel updates, Rust infrastructure, selinux, documentation etc).
The shortlog below isn't exactly _short_, but not so long that you can't scroll through it to get some kind of idea of the details.
Linus -
Kernel prepatch 7.1-rc3
Linus has released 7.1-rc3 for testing. "
I think this answers the 'is 7.1 continuing the larger size pattern that we saw with 7.0?' question, and the answer is yes: that wasn't a fluke brought on by a .0 release - it simply seems to be the new normal.
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In Neowin:
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Linus Torvalds declares massive AI-fueled code surges as the new normal for Linux
Is Hey Hi (AI) productivity permanently changing the kernel? Linus Torvalds notes a massive jump in patch sizes that could redefine how the OS is built.
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Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 7.1-rc3, stating that the unusually large patch sizes, likely due to the use of AI tools in coding, wasn’t just a blip and is in fact the new normal for the kernel. This cycle saw networking patches dominate, at a third of all updates and fixes. There are also significant security and stability patches for use-after-free vulnerabilities across Bluetooth and GPU drivers and support for Apple Mac USB-C networking and high-end AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ equipment.
OSTechNix:
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Linux Kernel 7.1 RC3 Released: Networking Takes the Lead
Linus Torvalds released the third release candidate (RC3) for Linux Kernel 7.1 on Sunday, 10 May 2026. This release continues the pattern of high patch volume that Torvalds previously suspected might be driven by developers using AI tooling.