Linux 7.0-rc5 Released: Approaching April Kernel Launch | Phoronix

Linus Torvalds released the fifth release candidate for Linux kernel 7.0 on Saturday, signaling progress toward the stable release expected in April. The release, designated 7.0-rc5, includes a range of bug fixes and regression corrections accumulated over the past week, according to Torvalds’ announcement.

Notable changes in this release candidate include a workaround for older Radeon and AMDGPU graphics processing units (GPUs) from the GCN 1.0 era, specifically Hainan GPUs. Improved support for the Logitech MX Master 4 Bluetooth mouse is also included. Torvalds noted these as highlights while reviewing the recent patch flow.

In his announcement, Torvalds indicated a positive trend in the development cycle. “It looks like things are starting to calm down – rc5 is smaller than the previous rc’s this merge window, although it still tracks a bit larger than rc5s historically do. I’ll still accept it as a good sign ” he wrote. He characterized the changes as generally small, with a focus on drivers – particularly GPU and networking – alongside updates to core networking, filesystems, BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter), self-tests and architectural components.

While acknowledging that the release cycle has been larger than usual, Torvalds described the overall situation as “fairly innocuous” and encouraged continued testing. The release of 7.0-rc5 follows the release of Linux 6.19 in February, which included performance boosts for older AMD GPUs and laid the groundwork for the 7.0 kernel. Torvalds announced the move to kernel 7.0 due to his difficulty managing increasingly large version numbers, stating he was “getting to the point where I’m being confused by large numbers.”

The upcoming Linux 7.0 release is expected to include further improvements for AMD GPUs, display support for Intel Nova Lake and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chips, and expanded sensor monitoring support for Asus motherboards, according to prior announcements. Kernel 7.0 will build upon the features introduced in 6.19, including support for the modern AMDGPU driver for older AMD GCN 1.0 and 1.1 graphics cards and improved HDR support through the DRM Color Pipeline.