Linux 5.3-rc1 is now available for public testing

Jul 24, 2019 19:32 GMT  ·  By

Linus Torvalds has kicked off the development of the Linux 5.3 kernel series, which will be the next major Linux kernel branch to be released this fall in early September.

The two-week merge window from the Linux 5.2 kernel series, which is now ready for mass deployments, is now closed, so the development cycle of Linux kernel 5.3 has kicked off over the weekend with the first RC (Release Candidate) ready for download and testing. According to Linus Torvalds, Linux kernel 5.3 RC1 is a pretty big release, but not the biggest ever.

"This is a pretty big release, judging by the commit count. Not the biggest ever (that honour still goes to 4.9-rc1, which was exceptionally big), and we've had a couple of comparable ones (4.12, 4.15 and 4.19 were also big merge windows), but it's definitely up there," said Linus Torvalds in a mailing list announcement.

It also looks like the merge window had a "rocky start," according to Linus Torvalds, as several bugs needed to be fixed for everything to go well and release the first RC (Release Candidate) build to the public. Despite that, it would appear that the Linux 5.3 kernel series is very promising with many exciting new features and enhancements.

Linux kernel 5.3 expected to arrive on mid-September

If everything goes well during the development cycle, we could be able to download the final release of Linux kernel 5.3 on September 8th if there are seven Release Candidates released or September 15th if there'll be eight RCs. It all depends on the quality of code and the number of patches submitted by kernel developers.

Until then, the Linux community can help by downloading, compiling and installing the first Release Candidate of Linux kernel 5.3 and report any issues they might encounter. You can download Linux kernel 5.3 RC1 right now from kernel.org or through our free software portal, but keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, not suitable for production use.