Linux is a family of Unix-like operating systems built around the Linux kernel. It runs on an enormous range of hardware, from smartphones, tablets, routers, and game consoles to desktops, servers, mainframes, and the world's most powerful supercomputers. Linux is a dominant force in the server market and underpins much of today's cloud infrastructure, high-performance computing, and enterprise workloads.

Linux development is one of the best-known examples of large-scale free and open-source collaboration. The source code is generally available for anyone to use, study, modify, and redistribute (commercially or non-commercially) under licenses such as the GNU General Public License.

Distros

For everyday use, Linux is distributed through "distributions" (or distros), which bundle the kernel with system utilities, libraries, desktop environments, and package managers tailored to specific needs. Popular mainstream distributions include Debian and its derivatives like Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE, each offering a different balance of stability, features, and update cadence for desktop and server environments.

Among enthusiasts, gamers, and security professionals, several other Linux distributions stand out, including Kali Linux for penetration testing, SteamOS and Bazzite for gaming-focused setups, and Zorin OS and Elementary OS for polished desktop experiences.

What exactly is the Linux kernel and how does it differ from the rest of a Linux distribution?

When people refer to the kernel they mean the core part of the operating system that interfaces directly with hardware, manages resources, and handles system calls – everything else (desktop environments, utilities, apps) sits on top of it.

Explain the different kernel releases:

Mainline

Mainline tree is maintained by Linus Torvalds. It's the tree where all new features are introduced and where all the exciting new development happens. New mainline kernels are released every 2-3 months.

Stable

After each mainline kernel is released, it is considered "stable." Any bug fixes for a stable kernel are backported from the mainline tree and applied by a designated stable kernel maintainer. There are usually only a few bugfix kernel releases until next mainline kernel becomes available – unless it is designated a "longterm maintenance kernel." Stable kernel updates are released on as-needed basis, usually once a week.

Longterm

There are usually several "longterm maintenance" kernel releases provided for the purposes of backporting bugfixes for older kernel trees. Only important bugfixes are applied to such kernels and they don't usually see very frequent releases, especially for older trees.

Is it worth trying mainline or experimental kernel builds instead of the distro's default?

Enthusiasts sometimes install mainline kernels to get newer features or hardware support, but they can lack stable support timelines and may cause boot or driver issues, so users often weigh the benefits against potential instability on their specific setup.

What's New

Linux 7.0 CPU Changes:

  • Linux 7.0 now defaults to Intel TSX auto mode for exposing Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) by default on Intel CPUs without known TSX security issues.
  • Intel preparations for DSA 3.0 accelerator IP of the Data Streaming Accelerators.
  • New L2 cache statistics reporting for the Turbostat tool that lives within the Linux kernel source tree.
  • AMD Zen 6 performance events and metrics support in the perf area of the kernel.
  • Intel NTB driver support for Xeon Diamond Rapids.
  • Performance events support for Diamond Rapids.
  • "Slow" workload hints for Intel Panther Lake.
  • New LoongArch CPU features are wired up.
  • Nova Lake S support for the Intel LPSS driver.
  • Intel Nova Lake sound support.
  • CXL support for the AMD Zen 5 Address Translation feature.
  • User-space CFI support for RISC-V.
  • Improved FPGA dev board support for OpenRISC.
  • Support for ARM64's single-copy atomic LS64/LS64V instructions.
  • Some SPARC and Alpha CPU port activity albeit mostly fixes.
  • Mainline support for the SpacemiT K3 RVA23 SoC.

Linux 7.0 GPUs / Graphics:

  • New AMD graphics hardware support for upcoming products.
  • Continued work around SR-IOV and multi-device SVM for the Intel Xe kernel graphics driver.
  • Intel multi-queue support for Crescent Island along with other enablement work for that upcoming Intel Crescent Island AI inference accelerator.
  • Intel Nova Lake display support.
  • The Intel driver is now exposing more graphics card temperature sensors.
  • The Intel driver no longer blocking D3cold for all Battlemage GPUs.
  • Nouveau is back to exposing larger pages support that will help with NVK performance.
  • Imagination's PowerVR driver now supports the AM62P.
  • AMDGPU fixes for older GCN 1.0/1.1 era hardware.
  • Various other kernel graphics and display driver improvements.

Previous Release Notes:

You all know the drill by now: two weeks have passed, and the kernel merge window is closed. We have a new major number purely because I'm easily confused and not good with big numbers.

We haven't done releases based on features (or on "stable vs unstable") for a long long time now. So that new major number does *not* mean that we have some big new exciting feature, or that we're somehow leaving old interfaces behind. It's the usual "solid progress" marker, nothing more.

With our normal release schedule of 5-6 releases per year and my antipathy to big version numbers, you should basically expect us to bump the major number roughly every 3.5 years.

And yeah, I don't have a solid plan for when the major number itself gets big. But doing the math - by that time, I expect that we'll have somebody more competent in charge who isn't afraid of numbers past the teens. So I'm not going to worry about it.

Anyway - despite any lingering ".0 release" worries that people might have due to experiences with other projects, this was one of those fairly smooth merge window for me. I define those as the merge windows where I don't have to bisect boot failures on any of my machines. Admittedly this time around that was because I caught one failure case early before I *actually* booted into it, but hey, that still technically counts as "smooth" to me.

But your milage may vary. Which is why you should now all drop everything, run to your computers, and test-build and test-boot a shiny new kernel. The fact that it all works for *me* is good, but let's make sure it works for others too, ok? Just kidding. A leisurely stroll after you've finished chewing is fine.

And as always with rc1 releases, there's way too many changes to list individually. So below you'll find just my mergelog that gives a very rough idea of what I pulled and from whom. The *really* high-level view is the usual: two thirds drivers, with the final third being the usual random collection of architecture updates, filesystems, tooling and random core kernel code. For a more detailed view, please refer to the git tree (or the good people who track and document new kernel features online, allowing me to be my lazy self). Linus