The development of the next version of the Linux kernel is not being entirely normal. But that it is not normal does not mean that some things are not expected: the first Release Candidate was very large due to the number of requests they attended, the second RC It was also, something that was expected, but what has been unexpected for Linus Torvalds is that Linux 5.3-rc3 be so small.
That's what happened this week. Last week was pretty quiet, this week's Linux 5.3-rc3 is smaller than usual and, logically and by extension, smaller than the second Release Candidate of this version. Taking into account how the size is usually in the development of other versions, the second RC is the one that should be smaller and the third the one that should grow. As we said, that it is normal does not mean that it goes as expected or vice versa, at least in terms of this third Release Candidate.
Linux 5.3-rc3: neither normal nor as expected
Torvals explains the reason for this reduction because there was nothing to repair in networks, so the changes were made only in correcting drivers, architecture updates and then a little of everything, such as that the tools header files were synchronized with the main kernel header files, something the Linux parent considers "interesting." Definitely, few changes and most have been quite small.
The next version will already be Linux 5.3-rc4 and, considering that this week the kernel has not grown as much as it should, we will probably report on a large version when it should be small. Nothing important if the final version arrives with all the polished problems. If nothing strange happens, the official version will arrive in 5 or 6 weeks.
