Linus Torvalds Confirms The Next Kernel Is Linux 7.0:
Following Linus Torvalds releasing Linux 6.19 stable, Linus Torvalds is now out with his customary release announcement. Notably he officially confirmed that the next kernel version is Linux 7.0 as the successor to Linux 6.19.
Linus Torvalds wrote in the Linux 6.19 release announcement:
"I have more than three dozen pull requests for when the merge window opens tomorrow - thank you to all the early maintainers. And as people have mostly figured out, I'm getting to the point where I'm being confused by large numbers (almost running out of fingers and toes again), so the next kernel is going to be called 7.0."
So it's on to the Linux 7.0 kernel cycle kicking off tomorrow. The Linux 7.0 merge window will run the next two weeks. Linux 7.0 stable will be out in mid-April as the kernel version also squeezing into Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.
There are a lot of exciting changes on the table for Linux 7.0.
Which also means, as Michael Larabel mentions in the above:
Linux 6.19 Released With Better Support For Older AMD GPUs, DRM Color Pipeline API:
As anticipated due to the extra week for the cycle given end of year holidays, Linus Torvalds today released the Linux 6.19 stable kernel as the first major release of 2026. There is a lot in store with this early 2026 kernel release.
Linux 6.19 as usual is especially heavy on Intel and AMD changes including AMD GCN 1.0 / GCN 1.1 dGPUs now defaulting to the AMDGPU driver rather than Radeon legacy driver for better performance, RADV compatibility out-of-the-box, etc. On the Intel side there is more enablement work for Wildcat Lake and Nova Lake platforms. Plus Intel Linear Address Space Separation (LASS) and Content Adaptive Sharpness Filter (CASF) are among the new features enabled. Linux 6.19 also mainlines the DRM Color Pipeline API backed by Valve, various file-system improvements, the ASUS Armoury and Uniwill platform drivers, and much more.
See the Linux 6.19 feature overview for a more extensive look at the changes of this new kernel.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Ingar on Tuesday February 10, @06:22PM (1 child)
I'm too old for this.
Love is a three-edged sword: heart, soul, and reality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 11, @06:15AM
7 "8" 9?
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday February 10, @10:14PM
If that's the major problem, AI slop could help w/ adding more fingers
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 11, @05:09AM (1 child)
I wonder how he will manage in 130 releases from now, when he runs out of fingers and toes for the major version number.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 11, @05:11AM
Meh, I didn't run out of fingers but still managed to write 130 instead of... 260?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by gonemissing on Wednesday February 11, @10:23AM
Linux is getting a lot of traction again these days for desktop usage. But there was an opportunity back in the mid 2000s where there was a building hype and the vendors wanted Linus to bump the next release up a major number so that they could market something like 'Featuring Linux 3!'. Instead he bumped the minor number and missed a golden opportunity.
Now he bumps it because he runs out of extremities.