First release candidate of the Linux 4.17 kernel is out now

Apr 16, 2018 18:28 GMT  ·  By

Two weeks after the launch of Linux kernel 4.16, Linus Torvalds kicked off the development cycle of the Linux 4.17 kernel series by releasing the first Release Candidate (RC) build.

At the end of every Linux kernel development cycle, the merge window opens for the next release, in this case, Linux 4.17. Now, two weeks later, the merge window is closed, and public testers can start downloading, compiling, and installing the upcoming Linux 4.17 kernel on their favorite GNU/Linux distributions.

As this is a development version, it's not recommended for deployment in production machines. Linux kernel 4.17 doesn't look to be a big release, and it won't include any major new features, according to Linus Torvalds, which teased the Linux community with the future release of the Linux 5.0 kernel series.

"The most special thing that happened is purely numerology: we've passed the six million git objects mark, and that is reason enough to call the next kernel 5.0. Except I probably won't, because I don't want to be too predictable. The version numbers are meaningless," said Linus Torvalds in the mailing list announcement.

Linux kernel 4.17 removes support for a bunch of architectures

While the Linux 5.0 kernel release would happen someday, we're talking a closer look at Linux kernel 4.17 series in this article, as the first Release Candidate (RC) milestone removes support for a bunch of hardware architectures, including M32R, Metag, FR-V, Blackfin, CRIS, MN10300, TILE, and S+core.

On the other hand, it adds support for a new architecture, namely NDS32, a 32-bit RISC architecture developed by Andes Technology. In numbers, the Linux 4.17 kernel series changes a total of 13538 files, with 627723 insertions and 818855 deletions. For a full list of changes, you can study the appended shortlog.

If you want to take the first Linux 4.17 kernel release candidate for a test drive, you can do so by downloading the source tarball right now from kernel.org or via our web portal. The final Linux 4.17 kernel release should hit the streets in early June, either on the 3rd or the 10th, depending on how many RC milestones will be released.