Surely we would all like it to be the opposite. Linus torvalds He launched yesterday Linux 5.7-rc3 and he ended by saying that, although it is how he likes it, «in a world gone mad, the kernel seems almost boringly normal«. So if you were expecting the usual shocks and developments in the development of this third Release Candidate, I am sorry to disappoint you. This article on Linux kernel development is one of those that talks about a release whose news is that there is no news.
What is common in a third RC is that the size of the Linux kernel increases, something that Torvalds is responsible for remembering is normal, and more so considering that Linux 5.7-rc2 was a version of the kernel in which both developers and testers took a breather. That less intense rc2 has made Linux 5.7-rc3 somewhat larger than average, but there is nothing to worry about. Does the Finn ever worry?
Linux 5.7-rc3 is larger than average, but it is normal
The world of kernel development still looks pretty normal: rc3 is larger than rc2, but that's the usual pattern where rc2 is a "Breath release" after the melt window, and rc3 sees a rebound. And looking at the engagement stats and the size of the changes, we're almost at the slightly higher end of the average for rc3 when comparing the 5.x releases. The diffstat also looks pretty and flat, with nothing that stands out or looks scary.
The biggest change has been in the Python script "sleepgraph", with the rest remaining as usual: drivers and tools. After a Linux 5.6 that I arrive With major changes, Linux 5.7 will be the next major release to take place on next May 31, if they release seven Release Candidates, or on June 8th if Torvalds decides that the kernel version currently in development needs a bit more polish.