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.
Fixes from various sources
There is no single specific cause for the volume of changes. For example, a previously overlooked EDAC update was finally included, but according to Torvalds, that accounts for only a small portion of the total.
Various file systems contributed fixes. Neowin mentions, among other things, memory-safety fixes for the ksmbd SMB server and adjustments to NTFS and XFS. On the networking front, there are changes for TCP and IPv6. The relatively extensive collection of DRM changes includes, among other things, adjustments for AMD DRM and Nouveau.
Fixes were also submitted for BPF, as well as for various driver trees. As usual, drivers constitute the largest category of changes. Tooling accounts for about 20 percent of the patch, primarily due to adjustments to sched_ext and self-tests. Next come file systems, the kernel core, and networking.
Torvalds sees nothing unusual
Despite the size of the release candidate, Torvalds sees nothing unusual in the content of the changes. He notes that only the amount of work at this stage in the development cycle is somewhat unusual.
He maintains that this could be a coincidence. With a wink, Torvalds adds that everyone will, of course, blame AI, regardless of whether AI is actually the cause, “because it’s just so easy to blame AI.”