We already said it in the past week with the release of rc5, and we could say the same this time. The core currently under development is not prompting very prominent news, and that trend continues with the Linux 5.11-rc6 thrown out a few hours ago, a version that is very average in terms of size. Although everything has been very calm, Linus Torvalds says that he still would have liked everything to be calmer, although there is nothing remarkable.
With all the tranquility of the last seven days, almost everything has been small corrections, with the exception of a new LED driver and a series of arrangements by PI Futex. There are still some known problems, but he hopes they will be fixed soon, and everything seems simple enough to think that there will be an rc8 that is only reserved for special cases.
Linux 5.11 is coming February 14
Things seem a bit calmer than last week and generally very normal for rc6. So, as always so late in the release schedule, I certainly would have liked things to be even quieter, but nothing here really stands out. The diffstat is pretty flat, which means a lot of little fixes, with the exception of a new LED driver, and a number of PI futex fixes (and a nouveau patch that's just a bunch of trivial lines).
After such a smooth development, something weird would have to happen in the next two weeks for an rc8 to be needed, so we can almost assure that Linux 5.11 will arrive next February 14. Shortly after it will be included in the Daily Builds of Ubuntu 21.04, and already in April it will be the kernel that the entire Hirsute Hippo family will use. Considering that the Tousled Haired Hippo will stay in GNOME 3.38 and GTK 3, it will be one of the highlights.