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Linux 7.3-rc2
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LWN ☛ Linux 7.3-rc2
Another Sunday afternoon, another -rc.
This didn't *feel* like a particularly busy rc2, but it clearly was. rc2 is usually the quietest time when people take a breather after the merge window and it takes a while to start finding bugs. But not this time - this is a "full fat" rc release.
And it's not some single cause. I'd like to point to the late EDAC pull that was forgotten and didn't happen during the merge window, but honestly, that's a fairl small thing. No, rc2 had several filesystems sending in their fixes, and there's a fairly sizable drm pull with lots of scattered fixes. Along with networking and bpf sending in fixes. *And* a number of driver trees too.
So there's a bit of everything in here - including tooling, that accounts for roughly 20% of the whole patch (mostly sched_ext and selftests). In fact, outside of the drivers (which always dominates), tooling is the biggest source of changes (then filesystems, core kernel and then networking).
Nothing looks particularly odd, even if the rc2 timing is a bit unusual. It might be just random, but we'll obviously all blame it on AI, because whether that's really the cause or not, it's an easy thing to blame ;)
Linus -
LWN ☛ Kernel prepatch 7.3-rc2
The 7.3-rc2 kernel prepatch is out for testing. Linus said: [...]
More coverage:
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Linux Kernel 7.3 RC2 is Officially Released: Here's What's New
While the second release candidate is historically the quietest period of the development cycle, giving developers a chance to breathe after the frantic two-week merge window, this release broke that trend.
In the Linux 7.3-rc2 announcement mail, Torvalds describes 7.3-rc2 as a "full fat" release that turned out to be surprisingly busy.
Neowin:
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Linus Torvalds releases Linux 7.3-rc2 with heavy fix volume
Higher-than-usual patch volume across networking, file systems, and graphics drivers could lead to an extended release cycle if activity does not normalize soon.
gHacks:
Mels Dees:
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Linux 7.3-rc2 is packed with changes
Linus Torvalds (photo) has released the second release candidate of Linux 7.3. The new test version contains more changes than is typical for an rc2. The changes span file systems, graphics, networking, BPF, and drivers, among other areas.
According to Torvalds, the past week of development didn’t feel particularly busy at first. However, the scope of Linux 7.3-rc2 paints a different picture. He therefore refers to it as a “full-fat” RC release.
A second release candidate is normally relatively quiet. According to Torvalds, developers usually take their foot off the gas for a bit after the merge window closes. Moreover, it takes some time for new bugs to surface during testing. With Linux 7.3-rc2, there’s been no such quiet period.
The Register MS:
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Might as well blame AI for this giant Linux release candidate, says Linus Torvalds
Linux kernel boss Linus Torvalds has decided he might as well blame AI for a version 7.3 release candidate that’s larger than was usually the case before LLMs came into our lives.
“This didn't *feel* like a particularly busy rc2, but it clearly was,” he wrote in his regular Sunday kernel update post. “rc2 is usually the quietest time when people take a breather after the merge window and it takes a while to start finding bugs. But not this time - this is a ‘full fat’ rc release.”
Torvalds said he can’t find a single cause for the big release.
Betanews:
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Linux 7.3-rc2 ships heavier than expected, Torvalds blames AI for it
Linus Torvalds released Linux 7.3-rc2 on September 6, 2026, in his regular Sunday post to the Linux Kernel Mailing List. He described the build as unusually heavy for a stage in the cycle that typically gives developers a short break after the merge window closes. Bug reports and fixes arrived early and in volume instead.
The source code is now available at kernel.org, and kernel testers and distribution maintainers are being encouraged to run validation passes on drivers and tooling before the cycle continues.