- Linus Torvalds announced the general availability of the seventh release candidate of Linux kernel 6.1.
- Torvalds also announced that he is expecting to release another release candidate next week before the final release.
- With the extra release candidate coming next week, the next merge window will happen largely during the holiday season.
Another week has passed and as usual, Linus Torvalds announced the release of a new release candidate, Linux 6.1-rc7. Despite the Thanksgiving week, Torvalds stated that everything was on track but there will be another release candidate before the final release of Linux kernel 6.1, which will be released in December. To take a close look at the new version, you can check our Linux kernel 6.1 article.
8th release candidate is on the way

With an extra release candidate on the way, Torvalds also pinpointed that the merge windows will be in the holiday season, which means that he will be more “hard-nosed” than usual. Torvalds said that he will be more strict about the rules in the next merge window. Linus Torvalds, developer of Linux kernel said,
« Now, this means that I will be more hard-nosed than usual in the next merge window: the usual rule is that things that I get sent for the merge window should have been all ready before the merge window opened. But with the merge window happening largely during the holiday season, I’ll just be enforcing that pretty strictly. I want to see all that work in the pull requests having been done before the festivities, not while you’re imbibing your egg-nog and just generally being stressed out about the season. If I get sent pull requests late, I’ll just go “this can wait”.
Now, I suspect that everybody else wants to get their work out before the holiday season starts too, so I hope that we’re all in complete and violent agreement about this all. But I thought I’d start making people aware of this. »
Torvalds also asked the community to test the second to last release candidate as usual and asked developers not to send him anything except a clear and present bug. You can take a look at the final changes from its official website.
FAQ
What is the most recent Linux kernel?
Currently, the most recent Linux kernel version is 6.1. The 6.2 version is expected to be released in the middle of February 2023.
How do you check the installed Linux kernel version?
You can check the Linux kernel version of your system with three different methods. You can simply use uname -r command to quickly check the Linux kernel version. You can also use cat /proc/version to check the version from a file. Installing the neofetch application is also an option to check the kernel version and it provides additional information about the other packages installed as well.
Can the Linux kernel be customized?
Yes, the Linux kernel can be customized. You can customize the Linux kernel by enabling or disabling specific options, and even adding new functionalities. But it’s a complicated process; you can check online guides about customizing the Linux kernel.
Is it legal to edit the Linux kernel?
Yes, it is legal to edit the Linux kernel since it is under General Public License.
Is the Linux kernel open source?
Yes, the Linux kernel is an open-source project.
Who developed the Linux kernel?
Linus Torvalds has developed and still developing the Linux kernel.
Does Linus Torvalds still work on Linux?
Yes, Linus Torvalds still works on developing the Linux kernel.
What is the Linux kernel written in?
Linux kernel code is written in the standard C programming language.