- Linux 6.19 has just been released and Torvalds has confirmed that version 7.0 will be next
- “Still almost out of fingers and toes”, referring to the ending at x.19
- The latest major release (and first of 2026) arrived at the same time as the Super Bowl
Linus Torvalds confirmed that the next Linux kernel will be version 7.0 after the release of 6.19, and this came as no surprise to those who know that Torvalds avoids version numbers that he can’t count on his fingers and toes – a lightweight internal naming convention that keeps version numbers below x.19.
Versions 3, 5, and 6 all ended at x.19 before receiving their upgrades, with version 4 standing out as version x.20.
Version 7.0 is still a long way off, but version 6.19 has just arrived, and with it a series of improvements.
Linux 6.19 is here, Linux 7.0 will be next
“No big surprises last week, so 6.19 came out as planned – just as America prepares to completely shut down later today watching the latest round of TV commercials,” Torvalds wrote, referring to this weekend’s Super Bowl.
“But for anyone outside the US, maybe trying the newer core is an option?” he added.
As always, Linux 7.0 probably won’t be any bigger than any other upgrade. It is likely to include a mix of performance improvements, hardware support updates, and other improvements.
Nonetheless, version 6.19 brings many welcome upgrades as the first major release of 2026. For example, the update adds better support for older AMD GPUs and Intel platforms.
In the future, Linux 7.0 will likely form the basis for popular Linux distributions like Ubuntu 26.04.
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