Summary
Linux 7.0 Release Candidate is out now; grab the preview RC from the kernel GitHub.
Don’t expect a radical overhaul; the major version bump just marks steady, incremental progress.
Notable features include an XFS auto-repair tool that fixes drives without reboot or unmount and lots of driver updates.
One thing I’ve always found exciting about Linux as a whole is how quickly things can update. It’s one of the reasons why I moved from Windows after not being excited over its updates for years. Now, I’m on an operating system where we get a version update every few months. Life is good.
Well, we’ve just come off of version 6.19, and Linus is already gunning to get version 7.0 out the door by releasing its Release Candidate. And while you shouldn’t get too excited over the upgrade to version 7, it’s still a really cool update that’s worth a peek.
Related
Linux 7.0 is preparing fixes for a Wi-Fi driver…from 2017
It’s truly the perfect home for old hardware.
You can now download Linux 7.0’s Release Candidate build
But don’t expect a ginormous change
As spotted by 9to5Linux, Linux version 7.0 has been released as a Release Candidate build. If you’re new to Linux, this is essentially a preview and testing version of the OS. It’ll go through a few different builds until it’s deemed stable enough for release, which should arrive sometime mid-April.
However, don’t get too hung up on the version change from Linux 6.19 to 7. It’s not like, say, Windows 10 to 11, where a version change is an indicator of a huge revamp and UI change. In fact, the only reason this update isn’t Linux 6.20 is because the creator and lead maintainer for the kernel, Linus Torvald, really just doesn’t like 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.
Despite this, Linux 7.0 is still worth a look if you’re a fan of FOSS, as it’s already shaping up to be quite a meaty update. My personal favorite feature is the XFS filesystem auto-repairer, which automatically fixes non-system issues without the need to reboot or unmount a drive. And if you’ve ever thought to yourself “I really wish I could try setting up Arch Linux using nothing but a Rock Band 4 controller, but there’s no way the kernel supports the drivers for it,” then boy do I have news for you. Either way, you can head over to Linus’ GitHub page and grab Linux 7.0’s Release Candidate build right now if you want.