Linus Torvalds: Busy Linux 5.13 release candidate not a major concern

Linus Torvalds, the principal developer of the mainline Linux kernel, has expressed mild concern about the size of the fifth release candidate (RC) of the upcoming kernel, version 5.13.

Linux kernels typically go through seven RCs, pushed out every Sunday by Torvalds after the week's submissions have been reviewed and pooled. Due to the sheer number of changes, some kernels need an extra rc8 release (like the previous 5.12 release) to allow for an extra week of testing.

After releasing 5.13-rc5 over the weekend, Torvalds explained he was mildly surprised by the activity in the preceding week, although it is too early to say if this release will require an additional RC.

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“Things haven't really started to calm down very much yet, but rc5 seems to be fairly average in size. I'm hoping things will start shrinking now,” wrote Torvalds.

Busy Linux 5.13 release

Linux 5.13 has had an interesting development cycle so far. As Torvalds expected, the first RC was large, though the next two were surprisingly small. These releases were followed by a “fairly sizable” rc4.

“It's not the biggest rc4 we've ever had, but it's certainly up there, believably competing for the title,” wrote Torvalds last week.

While he isn’t concerned about the size anymore, the number of changes piqued Torvalds' interest this week. However, he is hoping activity will start to cool down from this point onwards.

Linux 5.13 stable should go live in late June or early July, depending upon how the next few release candidates play out.