Timed for Easter this year is the seventh weekly release candidate for the Linux 7.0 kernel. If all goes well, Linux 7.0 stable will be out next week.
The Linux 7.0 cycle has been rather heavy with fixes but Linus Torvalds has expressed optimism over releasing on time that would put the stable release out next week on 12 April. But if things don’t go well over the next week. there is the always the possibility of an extra release candidate and then releasing instead on 19 April.
As for what’s new in Linux 7.0-rc7, there is improved security documentation focused on helping AI agents produce better security/bug reports. Linux 7.0-rc7 also has more graphics driver fixes, Razer Wolverine V3 Pro and Betop KP50 controller support due to just needing new device IDs added to the XPad driver, and a performance fix for the Atheros/Qualcomm Ath11k and Ath12k drivers for an issue that has existed since the drivers were introduced, and various other fixes.
Linus Torvalds wrote in his Easter message for the Linux 7.0-rc7 release announcement:
“No big surprises this week – rc7 continues the trend of being somewhat larger than usual, but without anything that really stands out or looks worrisome.
About half the patch is drivers – gpu, networking, usb and sound are probably the biggest contributors, and that all looks very normal. The rest looks pretty regular too: with core networking and kernel fixes, some filesystem work, and various other bits and pieces: selftests, arch fixes, documentation and crypto.
Things look set for a final release next weekend, but please keep testing. The Easter bunny is watching,”
See our Linux 7.0 features/changes list if not already up to speed on the interesting changes for this next kernel version.
