I’ve never been particularly number-inclined, and apparently I’m in good company, as Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds has a similar issue. In a post announcing Linux 7.0 rc1, Torvalds is quick to point out that the major number release version doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most exciting version of the Linux kernel yet.

“We have a new major number purely because I’m easily confused and not good with big numbers”, says Torvalds (via The Register).

“We haven’t done releases based on features (or on “stable vs unstable”) for a long long time now. So that new major number does *not* mean that we have some big new exciting feature, or that we’re somehow leaving old interfaces behind. It’s the usual ‘solid progress’ marker, nothing more.”

However, Torvalds has performed some back-of-a-matchbook maths to work out the rough release cadence, and predicts that “With our normal release schedule of 5-6 releases per year and my antipathy to big version numbers, you should basically expect us to bump the major number roughly every 3.5 years.”

Despite the update not being revolutionary (and knowing the odd Linux fan as I do, that’s almost certainly perceived as a good thing), Torvalds does talk up the robustness of the merge overall.

“Despite any lingering “.0 release” worries that people might have due to experiences with other projects, this was one of those fairly smooth merge window[s] for me. I define those as the merge windows where I don’t have to bisect boot failures on any of my machines.

“Admittedly this time around that was because I caught one failure case early before I *actually* booted into it, but hey, that still technically counts as ‘smooth’ to me.”

Good stuff. There’s nothing like classic Nordic understatement to sell an upgrade, although with expectations now reasonably tempered, Torvalds seems keen for the Linux community to jump on board with the most recent release:

“But your milage may vary. Which is why you should now all drop everything, run to your computers, and test-build and test-boot a shiny new kernel. The fact that it all works for *me* is good, but let’s make sure it works for others too, ok?

“Just kidding. A leisurely stroll after you’ve finished chewing is fine.” Well, you heard the man. What are you still reading this for, anyway?