Linus Torvalds released the fifth release candidate of Linux 7.0 on Sunday, offering a welcome sign of stability after weeks of unusually heavy patch activity. In his announcement to the Linux Kernel Mailing List, Torvalds described rc5 as noticeably smaller than its predecessors in this development cycle — though it still runs slightly above what is historically typical for a fifth release candidate.

It looks like things are starting to calm down — rc5 is smaller than the previous rc’s this merge window, although it still tracks a bit larger than rc5s historically do. I’ll still take it as a good sign overall.
— Linus Torvalds, Linux Kernel Mailing List, March 22, 2026

A Bumpy Road Through Earlier Candidates

The Linux 7.0 development cycle has been anything but quiet. Release candidates 3 and 4 were described by Phoronix as some of the biggest in recent kernel history, with rc3 labeled “Some Of The Biggest In Recent History.” The high volume of fixes alarmed some developers: at the release candidate stage, the focus is on verifying stability rather than adding new code, so an unusually large churn of commits can indicate that problems are still being discovered and resolved.

rc4 itself was notable for addressing hang fixes and at least one confirmed performance regression. By the time rc5 arrived, the number of changes had declined considerably — a positive signal that the worst of the instability is behind the project.

What Changed in rc5

According to Phoronix’s monitoring of the patch flow, two changes stand out in the rc5 build: a workaround applied to the Radeon and AMDGPU drivers for older GCN 1.0 era Hainan GPUs, and improved Bluetooth support for the Logitech MX Master 4 mouse. Beyond these highlights, the rest of rc5 is composed of assorted bug and regression fixes accumulated over the past week. Driver updates — particularly GPU and networking drivers — make up a significant portion of the diff, alongside some unusual serial driver updates. Core networking, filesystem patches, BPF subsystem work, self-tests, and a handful of architectural fixes round out the rest.

rc5 at a glance Size: Smaller than rc3 and rc4 in this cycle; slightly above historical rc5 average
Key fixes: AMDGPU/Radeon GCN 1.0 workaround, Logitech MX Master 4 BT support
Driver updates: GPU, networking, serial
Other areas: Core networking, filesystems, BPF, self-tests, arch fixes
Expected stable release: Mid-April 2026 (April 12 or 19, depending on RC count)

A Major Version Number, but Not a Revolution

Linux 7.0 marks the first major version bump from the long-running 6.x series, which ended with Linux 6.19 in February 2026. Torvalds was characteristically self-deprecating about the version change: “We have a new major number purely because I’m easily confused and not good with big numbers,” he said when announcing rc1 back in February. The number change does not signal a dramatic architectural overhaul. One genuinely significant milestone, however, is that Rust language support within the kernel has graduated from experimental status to stable, with multiple Rust-related updates included in this cycle.

The stable Linux 7.0 release is currently projected for mid-April 2026. If Torvalds keeps to seven release candidates, the final release would land around April 12; an additional rc would push that to April 19. For now, he is urging testers to continue running rc5 and report any remaining issues. The more thoroughly rc5 is exercised, the smoother the eventual stable launch is likely to be.

Users who wish to test rc5 directly can download the build from Torvalds’s Git tree via the Linux Kernel Mailing List. As always, testing on production systems is not recommended — rc builds are intended for developers and enthusiasts who want to contribute feedback before the final release.