Linux 7.2 is on track to release next week as AI bug finders continue to set the new norm for the kernel

Published Aug 10, 2026, 3:08 AM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Linux 7.2 is likely to be released next weekend as rc7 hits testing. rc7 is bigger than usual, but most fixes are small and scattered across the tree. AI agents are surfacing bugs faster than before, explaining larger release candidate sizes. With Linux 7.2 seeing its seventh release candidate, Linus Torvalds seems confident that the kernel will be released next weekend. While the size of rc7 was larger than usual, Torvalds chalks it up to the new norm (alongside AI coding), where AI agents are finding bugs faster than humans can. Despite that, the bugs look minor enough to forge ahead with 7.2's release, meaning everything is set to continue as normal unless something huge is discovered. Linux 7.2-rc7 shows promise for a general release next weekend It's not a guarantee, but it is highly likely In an email sent to the Linux community and recorded on the Linux Kernel Mailing List archive, Torvalds discusses how Linux 7.2-rc7 is doing. He notes that, just like recent release candidates before this one, rc7 is pretty big in terms of changes. A year ago, this would have caused alarm, but Torvalds notes that the release candidates in the past few months have grown in size due to AI agents finding more bugs than humans can. While there were a few concerning fixes with s390/zcrypt, btrfs, and netfilter ipset, Torvalds doesn't seem too fazed: But aside from a few places like that, most of this is just lots of tiny fixes. It's pretty much spread all over - drivers (gpu, sound, networking, you name it), filesystems, core networking, arch code... I don't currently see any value in delaying the 7.2 release, so I would expect that to happen next weekend unless something really bad pops up. In case you're not sure what's going on, Linux versions go through a series of release candidates as they're getting ready to be released. Usually, each version of Linux goes through seven release candidates before it's released, which takes two months. These candidates are primarily for bug fixes, which is why a large release candidate is worrying; it usually means there were more bugs in the code that people had to fix. However, as Torvalds noted above, AI agents have made finding and filing bug reports a lot easier, so he's been more relaxed about the larger sizes lately. Torvalds has also been a stern defender of AI-generated code, but that's another argument entirely.