Linux creator Linus Torvalds has announced the first release candidate for the Linux kernel version 6.0, but he says that the bulk change does not indicate anything particularly different about this release. .
While there’s nothing fundamentally different about this release from 5.19, Torvalds notes that there are over 13,500 non-merge commits and over 800 merge commits, meaning “6.0 looks like a release release.” rather large.” According to Torvalds, most of the updates are GPU, network, and audio improvements.
Torvalds stuck with his words after Linux kernel release 5.19 last monthwhen he flags it, he’ll likely call the next release 6.0 because he’s “starting to worry about being confused by big numbers again”.
On the Sunday of the release of Linux 6.0 release candidate version 1 (rc-1), he explains his reasoning behind choosing a new major version number and its purpose to developers. Again, it’s about avoiding confusion rather than signaling that the release has major new features. His major version number change threshold is .20 because it is difficult to remember the incremental version number beyond that threshold.
“Despite the big number change, there’s nothing fundamentally different about this release – I’ve long avoided the notion that prime numbers have meaning and the sole reason for the ‘distributed’ system. level; numbering is to make numbers easier to remember and distinguish,” said Torvalds.
But he also doesn’t care if anyone wants to call this version 5.20, which some Chinese developers have shown is more socially acceptable.”4.20“, an American reference to weed smoking culture.
The Linux producer noted the absence of some Rust inclusions in this release, but he expects them to happen in another 6.x release candidate. Rust is added as a second language for Linux kernel development after C.
Support for Rust is led by Miguel Ojeda with financial support from Google and the Internet Security Research Group. Torvalds in June says he hopes Rust patches v8 will be merged into Linux 6.0, according to Phoronix.
“I was really hoping that we would get some of the first rusty infrastructure and multi-generation LRU VMs, but neither of these are happening this time around,” Torvalds writes.
“There are always more releases. But there’s a lot of continued development going on all over the place, with the ‘shortlog’ being too long to post and so – as always for rc1 announcements – the below only contains my ‘merge log’ https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-6-0-arrives-with-performance-improvements-and-more-rust-coming/.”
Torvalds also had some comments on Intel’s Habana Labs and its Saudi2 processors for deep learning, but says it’s catching up to rival AMD chips. Intel acquired Israel-based Habana for $2 billion in 2019 and made it part of its data center group, which launched its Gaudi2 and Greco processors in May.
“This is one of those releases where you shouldn’t look at the differences too closely, as more than half of them are another AMD GPU register dump,” he added.
“And the Habanalabs Gaudi2 also wanted to play in that space, but they didn’t get as high as the AMD GPU users that have become so popular. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.”
