Linux Kernel 7.3 Released With Record 18,765 Commits From 3,021 Developers

A Record-Breaking Release

Linus Torvalds has released the Linux 7.3 kernel, as expected. The release is a record-breaker on all fronts, bringing in 18,765 non-merge commits from 3,021 developers, 807 of whom were first-time kernel developers. Torvalds noted that nothing very special happened during the final week, so the final 7.3 release went out on schedule.

With the 7.3 release out, the merge window for kernel 7.4 opens the following day. However, Torvalds said he is on his annual family vacation and plans to spend most of the day on a boat and under water before returning to merging in the afternoon. He expects his schedule to remain unusual for a while.

Notable Changes in 7.3

The release includes some significant binfmt_misc extensions and group-scheduling work aimed at improving performance on large systems. A new filesystem called failfs, which fails all operations, has been added, along with the fchroot() system call.

Other changes include global per-CPU data for BPF programs, completion of the sched_ext subscheduler feature, working-set tracking for virtual machines, alternative data-stream support in the ntfs3 filesystem, and a long list of SMB server improvements. Readers can consult the LWN merge-window summaries and the KernelNewbies 7.3 page for details.

Sources: lwn.net