Linux 7.0-rc6

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 30, 2026,
updated Mar 31, 2026

• Linux 7.0-rc6

  It turns out that rc5 finally starting to calm things down this
  release cycle was a mirage - with rc6 we're back to many more fixes
  than are normal for this time in the release.
  
  
  It's not like anything in here looks particularly alarming, but the
  fact that the rc's this release has been pretty consistently bigger
  than normal doesn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies.
  
  
  And it's not because the merge window was particularly big: rc1 was in
  fact pretty average in number of commits.  It's just the rc's that
  have more small fixes than is the norm.
  
  
  This time around, filesystems kind of stand out, with a noticeable
  portion of the diffstat being various filesystem or vfs fixes (ext4
  and xfs leading the pack, but it's really pretty widespread).
  
  
  There are obviously the usual driver fixes too: gpu, rdma, networking,
  sound, hwmon etc, but in the diff, drivers are "only" a third of the
  changes. In addition to the filesystem side, we've got core
  networking, architecture updates, and the rest being a random mix (rcu
  fixes, tooling, mm, you name it).
  
  
  At the same time, while we have noticeably many more fixes than usual,
  most of it is very small and none of it strikes me as being very
  scary. A lot of pretty trivial - but real - fixes. I wonder if some of
  it is just AI tools being better - and we've hit some "bump" related
  to that.
  
  
  Anyway, exactly because it's just "more than usual" rather than
  feeling *worse* than usual, I don't currently feel this merits
  extending the release, and I still hope that next weekend will be the
  last rc. But it's just a bit unnerving how this release doesn't want
  to calm down, so no promises.
  
  
                         Linus
  

• Kernel prepatch 7.0-rc6

  The 7.0-rc6 kernel prepatch is out...

Neowin:

• Linus Torvalds expresses concerns over unusually large Linux 7.0 RC6 patch count

  Is Hey Hi (AI) making Linux development more chaotic? Linus Torvalds notes a strange "bump" in late-stage patches for Linux 7.0 that might delay the stable release.

Valnet:

• Linus Torvalds says Linux 7.0's calm was a mirage as rc6 refuses to settle down

  A week ago, all seemed well on the Linux 7.0 front. While the first few release candidates were looking a little spotty in terms of bugs, the fifth release candidate finally calmed down, and Linus Torvald himself said that the operating system was looking better.

  Fast-forward to today, and unfortunately, it looks like that positive trend was short-lived. Linus confirmed today that the latest release candidate has resumed the trend of having more patches than usual, but he feels confident about continuing development without delaying Linux 7.0's release.