The development cycle of Linux v5.18 has been very quiet, so it seems that it will soon come to an end. This is what Linus Torvalds has said in the release note de Linux 5.18-rc7, where the first thing he mentions is precisely that, that if nothing bad happens in the next week, the one we are in now, the stable version will arrive next Sunday, May 22.
Things are going so smoothly and what Torvalds has written is so short that it fits in an article like this. He not only mentions the stable version at the beginning of his words, but also at the end to say that it will be a solid release. Of course, in seven days there might be something weird that he wants to polish up, but it would be a surprise to take a look back in time two months.
Linux 5.18 is coming May 22
So things are still pretty quiet, and as such this is likely to be the last rc before 5.18 unless something bad happens next week. All stats look normal, and most of it is random driver updates (network drivers, gpu, usb, etc). There are some file system fixes, some network kernels, and some code core stuff. And some self-test updates. Sortlog appended, nothing really noteworthy (the most exciting thing last week was that Andrew has literally started using git, which will make my life easier, but that doesn't affect the *code*). Please give it one last week of testing, so we have a nice solid 5.18 release.
Something serious would have to happen for the May 22 Linux 5.18 will not arrive, but we have to remember that Ubuntu does not update the kernel until they release a new version of the operating system, so those interested should use tools like Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Installer.