Linux 2.6.37-rc2 Kernel Released; So Far Looks Painless

Two weeks have passed since the release of the Linux 2.6.37-rc1 kernel that finally allowed the core kernel code to built without the the Big Kernel Lock. It also brought many open-source graphics improvements and other improvements and new drivers (such as a Intel Poulsbo driver and Broadcom's WiFi driver). Now the Linux 2.6.37-rc2 kernel is available as regressions are addressed in time for the final Linux 2.6.37 kernel release several weeks down the road.

There isn't anything particularly exciting in Linux 2.6.37-rc2, like the very amazing patch talked about earlier today that dramatically improves the desktop responsiveness/interactivity under system load, but with the 2.6.37 merge window closed it's all about bug-fixing. There's also some staging drivers that have been reverted.

"And it all looks the way I like to see my -rc2's: nothing really interesting there. We had a SCSI calling convention change patch that got punted due to some discussion about details (and which I'll probably accept for -rc3 with the fixed model).

In fact, the biggest change in the diffstat is just due to some staging driver reverts. So hopefully this whole 2.6.37 release cycle will be as painless as it looks so far."

The Linux 2.6.37-rc2 release announcement can be read at LKML.org.