14 DAY TRIAL // Linux Kernel 3.18 RC8 has been announced by Linus Torvalds and it looks like the development cycle is coming to an end, despite a problem that has been bugging the team for a couple of weeks.
We wrote a couple of weeks ago that this particular development cycle, for Linux kernel 3.18, had been rather uneventful, and that there wasn't any major problem or issue. Well, that status has changed now, although the problem that's been bugging the devs is not important enough to delay the release for the stable branch.
A new Linux kernel is usually forged in about 8 to 10 weeks, depending on the size of the updates and the schedule of Linus Torvalds. In more special cases, like the approaching holidays, things get a little mixed up. This is one of the reasons Linux wants to release the 3.18 stable branch on time, despite a lockup issue that's been troubling people for a few weeks.
Linux Kernel 3.18 RC8 could be the last one in the series
This latest Release Candidate bring us a little closer to the stable version, which might land very soon, if Linux decides to open the next cycle as soon as possible. The holidays are a factor and there will be fewer developers pushing patches for the new one.
"Things are calming down nicely, and everything looks pretty normal. In fact, if it wasn't for the pending issues with odd watchdog (and possibly rcu) lockups I'd be pretty happy. As it is, that isn't a regression from 3.17, but is still very disturbing. At the same time, with the holidays coming up, and the problem not being a regression, I suspect that what will happen is that I'll release 3.18 on time in a week, because delaying it will either mess up the merge window and the holiday season, or I'd have to delay it a *lot*."
"We'll see. Maybe DaveJ will be able to bisect it a bit now that the false lead of "3.17 was ok" has been shown to be wrong (right now it looks like the problem seems to have crept in between 3.16 and 3.17)," said Linus Torvalds in this regular email address.
You can download Linux Kernel 3.18 RC8 from Softpedia. Keep in mind that this is the source code and it needs to be compiled. Alternatively, you could wait a few more weeks until the final version is made available.
