The topic of Linus Torvalds says Linux 7.0’s calm was a mirage as rc6 refuses to settle down is currently the subject of lively debate — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
A week ago, all seemed well on the Linux 7.0 front. While the first few release candidates were looking a little spotty in terms of bugs, the fifth release candidate finally calmed down, and Linus Torvald himself said that the operating system was looking better.
Fast forward to today, and unfortunately, it looks like that positive trend was short-lived. Linus has confirmed today that the newest release candidate resumed the trend of having more patches than normal, but he feels confident to continue development without delaying Linux 7.0’s release.
As reported by Phoronix, Linus Torvald has made a post discussing the state of Linux 7.0’s rc6 build. If you’re not in the loop, Linux usually has several rounds of release candidate builds to help iron out bugs before it’s released. Usually, when a version has a pretty quiet series of release candidates that don’t get many patches, it means the foundation is pretty solid. Conversely, if there’s a flurry of patches during the release candidate phases, it usually signals something wrong, and may justify delaying the release so that things calm down again.
Linux 7.0’s first few release candidates had higher-than-normal patches, hinting that something wasn’t quite right. Release candidate five calmed down, and things looked as if they would plateau. Now, release candidate six is here, and Linus reveals that the last one was a fluke:
It turns out that rc5 finally starting to calm things down this release cycle was a mirage – with rc6 we’re back to many more fixes than are normal for this time in the release.
It’s not like anything in here looks particularly alarming, but the fact that the rc’s this release has been pretty consistently bigger than normal doesn’t exactly give me the warm and fuzzies.
And it’s not because the merge window was particularly big: rc1 was in fact pretty average in number of commits. It’s just the rc’s that have more small fixes than is the norm.
Much like the previous Linux 7.0 release candidates, the sixth one didn’t reveal any huge issues with the operating system; most of the fixes were pretty minor. It’s the fact that there was a lot of ‘pretty minor’ stuff that’s causing Linus to feel unsure about its release. Because the changes aren’t dramatic, Linus doesn’t want to delay things just yet; however, given how next week is the final release candidate, he gives “no promises” that he won’t pull the trigger then instead.
Why it matters
News like this often changes audience expectations and competitors’ plans.
When one player makes a move, others usually react — it is worth reading the event in context.
What to look out for next
The full picture will become clear in time, but the headline already shows the dynamics of the industry.
Further statements and user reactions will add to the story.