The latest version of the Linux kernel 3.10 branch can be downloaded from Softpedia

May 27, 2013 08:09 GMT  ·  By

Linus Torvalds has announced the immediate availability of the third release candidate in the 3.10 branch of the Linux kernel.

This third release in the 3.10 branch is quite consistent, according to Linus Torvalds. It seems that a lot people have missed the previous version and squeezed as much as possible in the next one.

“I'm not thrilled about it, and -rc3 is much bigger than -rc2 was, although there isn't anything particularly scary that stands out. Just a lot of small details. A number of people apparently missed rc2, and then made rc3,” said Linus.

The Linux maintainer has said on a number of occasions that he doesn't like big releases, and that he appreciates when developers actually clean up the kernel, removing useless lines of code.

“I can pretty much guarantee that -rc4 is going to be smaller, because (a) I'm going to be grumpy if people try to push as much to rc4 as happened to rc3, and (b) I'm going to be traveling for most of next week (and part of the week after).

“I'll have internet, but I really really hope and expect that things should be calmer coming up. Right? RIGHT GUYS?,” stated Linus Torvalds.

Highlights of Linux kernel 3.10 RC3:

• A new USB ID has been added; • "Asus UL30A" has been added to the ACPI video detect blacklist; • Device IDs have been added for Dell 5804 (Novatel E371) WWAN card; • Additional supported CPU ID has been added (cpufreq / intel_pstate); • Support has been added for the Newport CONEX motor drivers (USB: ftdi_sio:); • The Hyper-V file list has been updated.

A complete list of changes, improvements, and fixes can be found in the official changelog.

Download Linux kernel 3.10 Release Candidate 3 right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is a beta version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.