Linux 3.16-rc2 Kernel Released: Nouveau & SPARC Stand Out

Linus Torvalds released Linux 3.16-rc2 on Saturday night rather than a conventional Sunday afternoon release due to obligations he has this week, but regardless, there's still many changes to find with this weekly kernel update.

We're one week past the close of the merge window for the Linux 3.16 kernel so the changes now mostly amount to bug and regression fixes. Linux 3.16-rc2 isn't particularly unusual and Torvalds noted when it comes to code changes the SPARC and Nouveau changes were heavy. The SPARC changes though came down just to warning clean-ups while the Nouveau DRM changes were just about small firmware fixes.

For Torvalds' other thoughts on 3.16-rc2, read his release announcement. The Linux 3.16 kernel overall is shaping up to be quite exciting with features like Nouveau re-clocking. I've already written at length about new features and improvements for Linux 3.16. More Linux 3.16 benchmarks will be coming next week.