Linus Torvalds recently released Linux 7.1-rc3. He said that the scale of kernel patches in this cycle is unusually large. This situation is largely related to the extensive use of AI coding tools by developers, and it is no longer a one-time "accidental phenomenon", but the "new normal" of Linux kernel development.
Networking-related patches account for about a third of all updates and fixes in this release candidate, which also includes several use-after-free bug fixes for Bluetooth and GPU drivers, as well as support for USB‑C networking capabilities on Apple Mac devices and high-end AlphaTheta/Pioneer DJ equipment.
Torvalds recalled that in recent versions, the number of patches submitted to the kernel mainline has continued to rise. He originally thought this might be just a short-term fluctuation, but now he believes this is a trend change. In a typical development cycle in the past, when reaching this stage, developers would usually gradually wrap up and consolidate features that had been incorporated earlier; but now with the help of AI-assisted tools, developers' overall productivity has been significantly improved and more changes can be submitted every week. Considering that 7.1 has far passed the major version number transition node, and the scale of the current candidate version is still beyond his expectations for this stage, he believes that maintaining roughly the same "high water level" in future cycles will become the norm.
In terms of specific content, about 33% of the patches in this 7.1-rc3 are devoted to the network core and various network drivers. In addition to the evolution of the network stack itself, the kernel also improves USB‑C network support on Apple Mac devices and adds more sophisticated audio processing capabilities for professional audio hardware such as AlphaTheta (Pioneer DJ) EUPHONIA. This week’s update also injects a lot of work into China’s independent CPU architecture LoongArch, focusing on KVM virtualization and interrupt handling optimization.
Another highlight of this release is that the number of memory safety-related patches in the kernel is significantly high, and the proportion of Rust used in the kernel continues to increase. The Rust language has a built-in memory safety mechanism at the design level, so as more and more kernel components are written in Rust, the current need for high-frequency memory safety repairs is expected to be gradually alleviated. In other words, you may still see a lot of security patches to harden traditional C/C++ code in the short term, but in the medium to long term, the introduction of Rust is seen as a structural means to alleviate such problems.
Torvalds hopes that the continued increase in the size of this round of patches will not slow down the overall development pace and thus affect the release time of the official version of 7.1. He emphasized that if the team can maintain the current rhythm while ensuring quality, the new cycle will be able to bring support for new hardware to users faster and continue to iterate in terms of security and stability.