The second release candidate for Linux 7.3 contains an unusually large set of fixes for a normally quiet point in the cycle. Filesystems, networking and drivers feature alongside scheduling changes for hybrid processors and Nouveau Blackwell display fixes. Linus Torvalds singles out no individual contribution; his AI remark is a joke accompanying uncertainty about the unusually large size.
Linus Torvalds released the second candidate for Linux 7.3 on Sunday, with fixes spanning filesystems, networking and a range of hardware drivers. He described an unusually busy release for a stage that normally gives developers a pause after the period when changes are merged. Contributions from several filesystems arrived alongside graphics and networking fixes, spreading the work across multiple parts of the kernel.[1], [2]
The release includes cache-aware scheduling fixes for hybrid processors, which combine different types of cores. It also addresses Blackwell display functions in the Nouveau driver. Those changes accompany the filesystem and networking fixes in the same release candidate. Torvalds singled out no individual submission. He described the delayed EDAC contribution, which missed the merge window, as a relatively small part of the overall load of fixes.[2], [1]
Torvalds wrote that nothing in the incoming changes looked particularly odd. After suggesting that the size might be random, he joked that AI was an easy target for blame regardless of whether it was responsible. A week earlier, he had also described the first Linux 7.3 candidate as large by commit count.[1]
