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Don't be a turkey: Help Linus Torvalds finish Linux 4.14 before it ruins Thanksgiving

RC7 is out and Linus would like to avoid rc8 if possible

Linux kernel overlord Linus Torvalds wants to avoid an eighth release candidate for the new version of Linux, to avoid delays to the next version.

The kernel community is currently hard at work on version 4.14, which got its seventh release candidate on Sunday. That release was only around for six days, after Torvalds struggled to get a decent internet connection the previous Sunday and rather than fighting it issued the release candidate six last Monday.

Torvalds has now announced rc 7, saying that it is “pretty much right smack the median size”.

He reckons 4.14 will need rc8 “unless this upcoming week ends up being _so_ quiet that there's no point.”

“Which while unlikely would be lovely - if I end up doing an rc8, that will also push the latter half of the next merge window into the Thanksgiving week, which is going to be inconvenient since I'll be traveling again.”

Also inconvenient is that Thanksgiving sees much of the US down tools for several days, as it falls on a Thursday every year. Plenty of organisations, including The Register's US operation, will also take the Friday off.

Which hardly makes for a good lead-in to a new round of kernel coding fun.

Hence Torvalds' sentiment that “I'd really be very happy if things now suddenly calm down to the point where an rc8 wouldn't make sense.”

“I can wish,” Torvalds wrote, adding “But I'll release 4.14 when it feels ready ready, not when convenient.”

If there is an eighth release candidate, Christmas and New Year festivities mean version 4.15 would likely be pushed deep into January or maybe even February 2018. ®

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