Linus Torvalds says Linux kernel is out of ‘stabilization phase’ and using ‘much healthier model’ for AI contributions

os platforms Yet machine-made patches ‘often get rewritten’ Linus Torvalds has posted the first release candidate for version 7.4 of the Linux kernel and offered his opinion that the project has found a “much healthier model” for using AI. “This is a *BIG* merge window,” he wrote in his weekly state of the kernel update , as it contains almost 20,000 commits compared to the usual ~15,000 that developers submit for a new cut of the kernel. “I think the reason is the by now obvious one, but I'm actually taking it as a good sign: I'm *much* happier with the flood of AI triggered work going into the merge window than it showing up mainly as extra fixes during the -rc period.” REG AD He therefore hopes that the unusually large number of commits “is a sign that the AI fixes are becoming more part of the ‘normal development’ than a flood of fixes that go into the whole stabilization phase.” REG AD “I think that's a much healthier model,” he added, before hedging with the observation that “people are expecting 7.4 to be the next LTS [long-term support] release, which is another independent reason why some releases tend larger than others.” “So it may not *just* be the flood of AI patches.” Torvalds also seems not to be completely convinced that all AI submissions are entirely helpful, by describing this release as “Large, and full of fixes for issues found by AI (and more and more the patches have been suggested by AI too, although they often get rewritten).” AMD GPU register offsets and bit masks make up a third of the changes this time around.

“We've been here before, and I'm sure we'll see it many times again in the future,” Torvalds wrote. “Just ignore the noise.” The kernel-watchers at Phoronix rate the major inclusions in Linux 7.4 as improved support for processors from AMD, Apple, and Google. Other additions include some handy tweaks to improve security for virtual machines, support for the Raspberry Pi 10-inch monitor and more work to get Linux running happily on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 SoC for PCs. ®

Source: The Register