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Linus Torvalds released the 7.3 kernel, at the end of the usual nine-week development cycle, on October 18. This cycle, abundantly fueled by LLM-assisted contributions, broke just about every record imaginable. As usual, we have compiled some statistics showing how this release, which is expected to be the next long-term-support (LTS) kernel, came together. Also included is an attempt to determine whether automated patch review is actually reducing the number of bugs introduced into the kernel.

Rust has several ad-hoc mechanisms to allow user code to influence how the standard library executes. For example, custom panic handlers and custom allocators both involve registering functions that core standard library code needs to call. With more similar features planned, Jana Dönszelmann spotted the developing pattern and put together a general solution, introducing a safer, checked analogue of C's weak symbol linking. At Kangrejos 2026, she explained how this new language feature works, a…

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (idm:DL1, kernel, libsoup, perl-URI, python3.14-urllib3, and webkit2gtk3), Debian (apache2, cifs-utils, haproxy, jq, kernel, and xen), Fedora (aom, chezmoi, chromium, docker-buildx, freeipa, freerdp, GitPython, httpd, jfrog-cli, kernel, knot, libheif, log4net, mongo-c-driver, nant, NetworkManager, openssl, plasma-nm, python-cairosvg, python-django5, python-django6, qt5-qtbase, radicale, rust-faster-hex, rust-onefetch, SDL3_image, syncthing, thunder…

Linus Torvalds has released the 7.3 kernel, as expected. It's Sunday afternoon, and this week I somehow kept my wits together long enough to keep track of the day of the week, so the release isn't randomly delayed. Will wonders never cease? Anyway, nothing very special seems to have happened this last week, so as expected the final 7.3 is out, and thus tomorrow the merge window for 7.4 opens. Except I'm on my annual family vacation, so instead of merging anything first thing in the morning, I'l…

The GNOME Project has provided GNOME OS for some time; until now, the project only provided a "Nightly" edition that was built from the latest commits and was aimed solely at GNOME developers. Adrian Vovk has now announced the release of GNOME OS Preview, which is intended for a non-developer audience: GNOME OS Preview is the current GNOME OS Nightly, but without the "nightly" aspect. Instead, it's built from the latest stable GNOME release (GNOME 51.1, at the time of writing). GNOME OS Preview…

Self-referential structures that can be used without unsafe code have posed a problem for Rust for years. There are many cases where a self-referential data structure is the elegant algorithmic choice, but implementing it in accordance with Rust's lifetime rules is all but impossible. At Kangrejos 2026, Gary Guo presented a clever solution to the problem in the context of the kernel's pin_init crate , which helps with the creation of immovable data structures, typically for interoperability wit…

The NFS network filesystem protocol has a long history on Unix-like operating systems (and beyond). NFS is still evolving, though, and implementations need to keep up. At the 2026 Linux Plumbers Conference , NFS developer Jeff Layton gave an overview of recent enhancements to the Linux implementation, along with some hints for what will be coming in the near future.

The results from the 2026 election for members of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB) have been announced. Kees Cook, Dave Hansen, Miguel Ojeda, and Shuah Khan have all been re-elected, and Laurent Pinchart will be joining the board.

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (ghostscript, grafana, hplip, libsoup3, lrzsz, rpcbind, and wireshark), Debian (chromium, cifs-utils, expat, gst-plugins-bad1.0, gst-plugins-good1.0, jpeg-xl, mutt, and spip), Mageia (gpsd, libx11, and roundcubemail), Oracle (389-ds-base, compat-libtiff3, environment-modules, ghostscript, grafana, gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free, gstreamer1-plugins-base, gstreamer1-plugins-good, hplip, idm:DL1, kernel, kernel-uek, libsoup, libsoup3, lrzsz, rpcbind, and…

Since Android's inception, the kernels it has used have diverged significantly from the mainline. While many of those differences have been resolved over time, and the move to the generic kernel image has helped to bring Android closer, current devices still carry a lot of out-of-tree changes. The preferred form for such changes is by way of vendor hooks . At the 2026 Linux Plumbers Conference , Todd Kjos ran a fast-paced session in the Android track to discuss vendor hooks and how they are use…

As part of KDE's 30th anniversary celebration , the project has released The KDE Documentary — A Story of Free Software Underdogs ( YouTube video ): The story starts in 1996, when Matthias Ettrich, a student at the University of Tübingen, posted to a Usenet group asking for programmers to help build a desktop for Linux. What followed became KDE, one of the largest free software communities in the world. KDE made Linux usable as a desktop for people who weren't system administrators, giving it a…

Canonical has announced the release of Ubuntu 26.10 ("Stonking Stingray"): Ubuntu 26.10 advances enterprise security features, completes the rollout of the Rust-based uutils coreutils , and strengthens integrations for user authentication using Microsoft Entra ID. [...] Ubuntu 26.10 also ships with GNOME 51, bringing a smoother, more responsive desktop, better display handling, improved accessibility, and refinements across core applications. In addition, the Ubuntu App Center now provides a mo…

Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (environment-modules, flatpak-builder, kernel, kernel-rt, librabbitmq, libreoffice, libsoup, mod_auth_openidc:2.3, nodejs:22, nodejs:24, OpenEXR, opentelemetry-collector, pki-core:10.6, postgresql:12, python-tornado, python36:3.6, ruby:3.3, tftp, and xorg-x11-server), Debian (buildstream, firefox-esr, mariadb, and sogo), Fedora (exim, freerdp, python3-docs, and python3.14), Mageia (drakx-installer-images, kernel, kmod-nvidia-current-wopengpu, kmod-…

Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of the 7.2.11 , 6.18.57 , 6.12.113 , 6.6.159 , 6.1.190 , 5.15.223 , and 5.10.272 stable kernels. This series includes, among other things, a fix for a critical vulnerability ( CVE-2026-99999 ). The flaw in skb_checksum_help() would allow an IPv4 packet with bad checksum metadata to " corrupt the network header and cause a bunch of mischief " in the words of patch author Michael S. Tsirkin. As usual, all users are advised to upgrade.

Inside this week's LWN.net Weekly Edition: Front : 2026 Maintainers Summit; Rust goals; GCC and LLMs; GCC CFI; systemd; C types in Rust; LTTng; Swap showdown; KDE Linux. Briefs : 64-day certificates; Nix and Lix security; Asterinas 0.19.0; LineageOS 24; KDE 6.8; Python 3.15; Quotes; ... Announcements : Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more.