Torvalds confirms a continuing release cadence on a roughly 3.5-year cycle and hints at a future successor with a more numbers-friendly scheme.

Phoronix provides details on these changes and the broader governance and continuity planning surrounding Linux’s ongoing development.

Linus announces the first Release Candidate for Linux 7.0, signaling broad community testing ahead of the milestone.

Btrfs gains initial experimental support for the remap-tree feature, enabling relocation of data blocks without moving them.

Core Linux 7.0 updates cement Rust language support in the kernel, improve cache clearing speed, enable non-disruptive kernel updates, and enhance performance for AMD/Intel hardware, with noted gains for RISC-V and LoongArch.

Linux 7.0 follows 6.19, with the merge window open and the RC downloadable from Linus Torvalds’ Git tree as linux-7.0-rc1.tar.gz.

Linux kernel 7.0 enters release candidate phase as Linus Torvalds signals public testing and reflects on the symbolic significance of a major version, noting the number is more about progress than features.

As part of maintenance, an older IBM ThinkPad modem driver from the 1990s is removed, reflecting routine cleanup.

The 7.0 bump is framed as progress-driven rather than feature-driven, with Rust stabilization highlighted as a key milestone.

RC1 merge window for Linux 7.0 went smoothly, with early detection reducing boot failures.

The release brings a suite of technical updates, including autonomous self-healing for XFS, multi-lane SPI controller support, BPF token access control to SELinux, ML-DSA post-quantum signatures, and EROFS defaulting to LZMA compression.

The final Linux 7.0 release is targeted for mid-March 2026, with dates around March 12 or March 19 depending on RC milestones.