Linux Kernel 6.18-rc7 released
Linus Torvalds has announced version 6.18 rc7 of the Linux kernel today, which brings us one step closer to a final release next weekend. This feels like progress compared to some earlier bumps in development, although we won't really know if it’s truly smoother until things settle down for real this time around.
This RC7 includes standard changes such as minor tweaks, driver updates (particularly for GPUs and networking), architecture fixes for specific systems like LoongArch, MIPS, and Arm64, some core network improvements, tooling enhancements, and updated documentation. A standout contribution is a patch related to SELinux where they had to rename a variable to fix something.
Beyond the big announcements, you'll find plenty of usual one-off bug fixes sprinkled throughout this release candidate as well. It's definitely been an interesting cycle for 6.18 so far with no major holdups or regressions causing significant headaches just yet.
We're heading into what promises to be the final stretch before the official launch now. The most important thing will be spending the next week really digging through everything to spot and squash any last-minute glitches or issues that might surface.
When 6.18 finally lands as a stable release, it’s set to become another solid building block for everyone using Linux. You can sense already in these pre-release candidates how feature-rich and generally reliable this iteration is shaping up to be, definitely something developers and users should keep an eye on.
More concretely, the kernel has benefited from contributions across many areas. A diverse group of contributors submitted well over 200 patches, ranging from specific bug fixes and performance boosts, to newer features and various driver updates, which are now included in the RC7.
Pulling all those varied changes together really helps reinforce how strong Linux Kernel 6.18 appears to be becoming as an overall platform. Its development has always prioritized reliability, which is vital for the workloads it must support now that we're nearing completion.
With RC7 now available, users can start testing and providing feedback on the upcoming final release.
Linux kernel 6.18-rc7 released
Linux kernel version 6.18-rc7 is now available:
Full source: https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/t/linux-6.18-rc7.tar.gz
Patch: https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/p/v6.18-rc7/v6.17
You can view the summary of the changes at the following URL:
https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/ds/v6.18-rc7/v6.18-rc6
