Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux 5.17 Kernel Release Candidate

Linux 5.17 Kernel Release

Two weeks have passed since the release of Linux 5.16 and the opening of the merge window for the next major kernel release, Linux 5.17, which closes today with the launch of the first Release Candidate (RC) milestone for public testing.

Linus Torvalds just announced today the first Release Candidate of Linux kernel 5.17, which looks to be a normal release with a normal amount of changes and new features. Nothing fancy, and nothing that stands out. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone.

According to Linus Torvalds, the bulk of it is various driver updates, and there’s also architecture, documentation, and tooling updates. However, the random number generator work and the rewrite of the fscache persistent local cache tool stand out in the upcoming Linux 5.17 kernel series.

“[Linux] 5.17 doesn’t seem to be slated to be a huge release, and everything looks fairly normal. We’ve got a bit more activity than usual in a couple of corners of the kernel (random number generator and the fscache rewrite stand out), but even with those things, the big picture view looks very much normal,” said Linus Torvalds.

The final release of Linux kernel 5.17 is expected in mid-March 2022. As usual, its release depends on how many Release Candidate milestones will be released during the entire development cycle.

If there will be seven RCs, we’re looking at March 13th for the final release date, but if an eighth Release Candidate will be published, we’re looking at March 20th for the final release date of Linux 5.17.

Until then, if you want to help the kernel developers find and fix bugs in Linux kernel 5.17, go ahead and download the first Release Candidate from the kernel.org website. But, please keep in mind that this is an early development version, NOT suitable for use in production machines.

Last updated 2 years ago

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