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Linux kernel reaches version 7.0 with Rust now permanent and next-gen chip support

Linux kernel reaches version 7.0 with Rust now permanent and next-gen chip support

New Capabilities

The first major version bump since 2022 brings the end of the Rust experiment, hardware enablement for unreleased Intel and AMD processors, and an unusually large release candidate that has Linus Torvalds watching closely

March 9th, 2026: Linux 7.0-rc3 released with 'some of the biggest changes in recent history'

Overview

Linux kernel 7.0 is the first major version number change since 6.0 arrived in October 2022. It powers the majority of the world's servers, all 500 of the fastest supercomputers, and roughly 70% of the world's smartphones. The release brings two significant upgrades: Rust is now permanent after a three-year experiment, and there's early support for Intel's Nova Lake and AMD's Zen 6 processors before either chip ships.

Release Candidate 3, published on March 9, arrived unusually large. Linus Torvalds called it 'some of the biggest in recent history.' The bulk of the extra code is an expanded self-test suite designed to catch regressions before the final release, expected in mid-April.

The sheer volume of changes, not any specific bug, concerns Torvalds. He hopes things 'calm down' in the coming weeks. For billions of devices downstream (cloud servers to Android phones), what happens in these release candidates determines the stability of the software layer everything else sits on.

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Key Indicators

~20
Minor versions per major bump
Linux consistently bumps the major version after roughly 20 minor releases, a pattern repeated from 4.x to 5.x to 6.x.
3 years
Length of Rust experiment
Rust entered the mainline kernel in version 6.1 in late 2022 and was declared permanent in December 2025.
~20%
RC3 patch devoted to self-tests
Almost a fifth of the RC3 changeset consists of new automated tests to catch regressions before the final release.
100%
Top 500 supercomputers running Linux
Every one of the world's 500 most powerful supercomputers runs the Linux kernel, a status held since 2017.

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People Involved

Linus Torvalds
Linus Torvalds
Actively managing 7.0 release candidate cycle
 Miguel Ojeda
Miguel Ojeda
Overseeing Rust's transition from experimental to permanent kernel language

Organizations Involved

Linux Foundation
Linux Foundation
Nonprofit technology consortium
Provides organizational infrastructure for Linux kernel development

The Linux Foundation employs Linus Torvalds and provides infrastructure for kernel development, though code decisions remain with the kernel maintainer hierarchy.
Intel Corporation
Intel Corporation
Semiconductor manufacturer
Top corporate contributor to the Linux kernel by commit volume

Intel contributes more code to the Linux kernel than any other company, nearly double the volume of second-place Google, and Linux 7.0 includes early enablement for Intel's upcoming Nova Lake and Diamond Rapids processors.

Timeline

October 2022 March 2026

9 events Latest: March 9th, 2026 · 4 months ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Linux 7.0-rc3 released with 'some of the biggest changes in recent history'

    Latest Release

    RC3 exceeded RC2 in size, though nearly a fifth of the patch consisted of new self-tests. Specific fixes included a slab performance regression, battery reporting for Apple's Magic Trackpad 2, and a ~1.5% network performance improvement on AMD Zen 2 processors.

  2. Linux 7.0-rc2 arrives larger than expected

    Release

    Torvalds said he was 'not super-happy' with the size of rc2, noting that drivers accounted for only 25% of changes — unusually low, meaning fixes were spread across more subsystems than typical.

  3. Linux 7.0-rc1 released after 'fairly smooth' merge window

    Release

    The first release candidate closed the merge window. Two-thirds of the new code was in drivers, including early support for Intel Nova Lake, AMD Zen 6, and RISC-V user-space Control-Flow Integrity.

  4. Torvalds confirms next kernel will be 7.0

    Decision

    Torvalds announced the version bump from 6.20 to 7.0, citing his running-out-of-fingers-and-toes reasoning. The two-week merge window for new features opened the same day.

  5. Linux 6.19 released as the final 6.x kernel

    Release

    The last kernel in the 6.x series shipped with a 300% improvement in certain TCP workloads, first fully Rust-written production drivers, and the new Live Update Orchestrator subsystem.

  6. Rust declared permanent in the Linux kernel

    Decision

    At the Kernel Maintainers Summit, maintainers agreed to drop the 'experimental' label from Rust support. Miguel Ojeda wrote: 'The experiment is done — Rust is here to stay.'

  7. First Rust-written drivers accepted in Linux 6.8

    Development

    The kernel accepted its first drivers written entirely in Rust, moving the language from infrastructure tooling to production components.

  8. Rust enters the mainline kernel in version 6.1

    Development

    Initial Rust support was merged as an explicit experiment to determine whether the language was technically and socially suitable for kernel development.

  9. Linux 6.0 released, setting a new major version baseline

    Release

    Torvalds bumped the version from 5.19 to 6.0 because minor numbers were getting unwieldy. No major architectural change accompanied the bump.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

July 2011

Linux 2.6 to 3.0 version bump (2011)

After eight years on the 2.6.x numbering scheme — reaching 2.6.39 — Linus Torvalds jumped the version number to 3.0 to coincide with Linux's 20th anniversary. The change was purely cosmetic: no major technical shift accompanied it. Kernel developers had to add a compatibility layer so that older programs expecting '2.6.x' in version strings would continue to work.

Then

Some minor software breakage occurred where programs parsed the version number and couldn't handle a single-digit minor version. The compatibility shim resolved most issues within weeks.

Now

The bump established the precedent that major version numbers in Linux are arbitrary bookkeeping, not semantic markers. Every subsequent bump — 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0 — has followed the same pattern of resetting minor numbers when they get too large.

Why this matters now

Linux 7.0 follows the exact same playbook: Torvalds bumped the number after 19 minor releases because he was 'running out of fingers and toes,' not because of a fundamental architectural change. The consistent precedent means observers should not read significance into the number itself — but the features landing in this particular cycle, especially Rust permanence, are independently significant.

2004-2007

C++ proposal for the Linux kernel rejected (2004-2007)

Multiple developers proposed adding C++ as a second language for Linux kernel development during the 2.6 era. Torvalds rejected the idea emphatically, calling C++ a 'horrible language' in a widely cited 2007 email. The proposals died without formal consideration, and the kernel remained C-only for another 15 years.

Then

The C++ proposals were dropped entirely. Kernel development continued exclusively in C and assembly.

Now

The rejection reinforced a cultural norm that new languages face an extraordinarily high bar for kernel acceptance. It took Rust — with its formal memory-safety guarantees — three years of experimentation and production deployment on millions of Android devices to clear that bar.

Why this matters now

The successful conclusion of the Rust experiment is remarkable precisely because the kernel's track record with new languages has been one of categorical rejection. Rust succeeded where C++ failed by offering something C fundamentally cannot: compile-time prevention of the memory-safety bugs that account for a large share of kernel vulnerabilities.

October 2022

Linux 6.0 release (2022)

Torvalds bumped the version from 5.19 to 6.0 after running through 20 minor releases in the 5.x series. He described it as 'one of the bigger releases in numbers of commits in a while,' with over 15,000 non-merge commits. That same cycle saw the initial groundwork for Rust integration, which would land two months later in 6.1.

Then

The release shipped without incident. Distributions adopted it within their normal timelines.

Now

The 6.x series ran for 19 releases over three and a half years, producing the Rust experiment, live kernel update orchestration, and major filesystem improvements before yielding to 7.0.

Why this matters now

The 6.0-to-7.0 cycle mirrors the 5.0-to-6.0 cycle in duration and rationale. But where 6.0 was setting up the Rust experiment, 7.0 is concluding it — marking a genuine inflection point beneath the routine version arithmetic.

Sources

(13)
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Phoronix XDA Developers Linux Compatible The Register 9to5Linux OSTechNix Linux Journal Tom's Hardware Phoronix Phoronix Phoronix 9to5Linux Phoronix