Barely after Linux 7.2 shipped, the merge window for kernel 7.3 is already open. The upcoming release brings support for AMD UALink, the first CXL Type-2 driver and initial boot support for Apple’s M3 Pro, Max and Ultra. Version 7.3 is expected to be finished around October.
Plenty of new hardware
Several hardware additions take center stage:
- A 95-patch series adds AMD UALink for AMDGPU – an open standard that connects up to 1,024 accelerators in a single domain.
- The first in-tree driver for CXL Type-2 accelerators lands in the kernel (for the AMD/Solarflare SFC9100-family network cards).
- Apple’s M3 Pro, M3 Max and M3 Ultra gain their first Device Tree support in the mainline kernel.
More changes
There is progress beyond hardware, too: Rust in the kernel now supports the PowerPC architectures PPC32BE and PPC64LE, the alternative scheduler framework sched_ext is considered “feature complete” in 7.3, and various memory optimizations significantly speed up zsmalloc locking, among other things.
Timeline
The merge window has been open since mid-August – right after Linux 7.2 was released on 17 August. The final version 7.3 is expected around October 2026.
Sources: Linuxcompatible, Phoronix.
