Linux 7.4-rc1 is out. Torvalds says AI fixes moving into normal development is healthy amid nearly 20,000 commits.

The latest Linux kernel release candidate has arrived for developers, bringing a significantly larger merge window and widespread updates across core drivers, architectures, and filesystems.

Linux 7.4 pulled in 19,671 commits during its two-week merge window. That is the largest merge window on record, according to Phoronix's analysis of kernel merge windows. Linus Torvalds closed the window on Sunday, November 1, 2026, with the release of Linux 7.4-rc1. The size alone is not the main story. Torvalds says a large share of the work is AI-driven, and it now lands at a better point in the cycle.

The Linux kernel ecosystem recently achieved an unprecedented developmental milestone. Specifically, the Linux 7.4 merge window closed with nearly twenty thousand merged commits. Linus Torvalds officially tagged the 7.4-rc1 testing milestone on November 1, 2026. Furthermore, Torvalds attributed this massive influx of software contributions to artificial intelligence tools. Consequently, automated testing scripts and machine learning utilities now accelerate foundational code reviews.

Moderators of the 392,000-member forum now reject any project that uses AI, is built with it or is aimed at it, and say people who don't write English should find another community. A rival subreddit

Kernel Maintainers Vote to Retire the Tag At the Linux Kernel Maintainers Summit on October 8, attendees agreed to scrap the Assisted-by tag in patches. On October 14, the related revert patch landed in the documentation development branch. However, the kernel's public guide on AI-assisted development still asks maintainers to keep the tag. That wording should change once the patch reaches the published documentation.

Linus Torvalds released Linux 7.3, but warned developers that Linux 7.4 could face a one- to two-week delay while he takes time off to go diving.

Linux Kernel 7.3 Officially Released Linux kernel 7.3 is officially available for download, as announced today by Linus Torvalds himself. This major release introduces profoundly enhanced hardware compatibility, substantial filesystem and networking refinements, robust security fortifications, cutting-edge drivers, and a multitude of other systemic improvements. Major Architecture and Filesystem Upgrades Prominent highlights of the Linux 7.3 architecture include an innovative sandboxing mechanism founded upon a pseudo-file system, foundational Rust integration for PowerPC environments, and advanced userfaultfd capabilities to meticulously track the working set of virtual machine guest memory.

Linux kernel maintainers have found a surprising flaw in Samsung's popular 990 PRO and EVO Plus NVMe SSDs, as they lack a crucial PCIe feature that they claim to have.

I think we are looking at the wrong part of the mailing list, and the consequences could be very dangerous.

Linus Torvalds recently tasked the artificial intelligence tool Claude Code with authoring modifications for a vital Linux kernel subsystem. Consequently, this experiment yielded a threefold acceleration when reading small data blocks during benchmark evaluations. Although the legendary developer openly credited the neural network for its authorship, he issued a clear caveat. Specifically, this experimental code remains unprepared for integration into the mainline kernel.

Torvalds ya utiliza IA para programar y probar código de Linux, pero conserva una vieja exigencia: comprender, revisar y poder mantener lo generado.

Linux 7.3-rc6 is now out for testing, but several things threaten to throw it off course, including conferences and a vacation.

Linus Torvalds, considerado el «Nobel» de tecnología, ha marcado un antes y un después en la informática mundial.

Linus Torvalds notes that less than a third of the patch is drivers while a full quarter consists of selftests, led by an arm64 KVM ITS table test.