Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux Kernel 6.0 Release Candidate

Two weeks have passed since the release of Linux kernel 5.19, which is also the last kernel release in the Linux 5.x series, and the opening of the merge window for Linux kernel 6.0.

Now, the merge window for Linux 6.0 is now officially closed and the first Release Candidate (RC) milestone is ready for testers and bleeding-edge users who want an early taste of what’s about to be included in the final release, which is expected in early October 2022.

According to Linus Torvalds, all the big changes have been merged and Linux kernel 6.0 looks to be another fairly sizable release with another great set of improvements for AMD GPU users. About 60% of the release is new and updated drivers for better hardware support, but there are also architecture updates, filesystems and tooling improvements, as well as random changes all over for a performance boost.

As mentioned before, the final Linux 6.0 kernel release is expected in early October, either on the 2nd or the 9th, which depends entirely on how many Release Candidate (RC) milestones will be announced until then, something only Linus Torvalds knows.

Until then, if you want to take the upcoming Linux 6.0 kernel series for a test drive against your hardware, you can download the first Release Candidate (RC1) build right now from the kernel.org website. Keep in mind that this is a pre-release version so don’t install it on a production machine.

:story: 9to5Linux