After four quieter weeks that ended with the v5.7-rc4 release, Linus Torvalds released yesterday Linux 5.7-rc5 in a week there were more changes. As we mentioned last week, the previous version was a smaller rc4 than usual, something that was explained by the absence of some patches, and that could translate into this rc5 being somewhat larger. And so it has been.
As Torvalds explains in the briefing note for this week, so far everything has been very calm, with most RCs being smaller than usual, but that has changed in Linux 5.7-rc5, a version that has increased its size a lot, but this is not something to worry about because yes, it has increased compared to previous weeks, but to reach the average size at this point in development. In fact, it is very little bigger than in past releases.
Linux 5.7-rc5 increases in size, but still average
So we've had a smooth launch so far, with most rcs so far smaller than average. That changes with rc5, which is still pretty much in line with historical data, but instead of being a bit small, it's slightly higher than average for this time in the release cycle.
Like us, Torvalds this increase in size was expected, partly because last week some requests that have been answered this week were not attended. For the rest, as always, changes have been added to the drivers, networks, architecture updates, kvm, tools, documentation ... a bit of everything.
Linux 5.7 It should arrive on May 31st, as long as everything goes as before. If there were any setbacks, an rc8 would be released and the stable version would arrive on June 7th.