As is customary every week, a new RC version of Linux kernel 4.12 has been released. This means that the development of the Kernel continues normally and that there is less and less for the final version to go out to our streets in a stable way.
This version does not have many changesWhat's more, it has less than usual. The reason is that many of the developers are on summer vacation, as even Linux geniuses have to take a break from time to time.
Besides holidays, hardly any errors have been detected in the XNUMXrd RC, which we discussed here recently. The only one that has been done has been to update the different drivers different hardware components, such as hard drives, graphics cards, and other input devices.
Undoubtedly, a very small update, but necessary, since as you already know, between 7 or 8 RC versions are usually required to definitively remove a stable Kernel. These versions are released with the aim of checking the stability of the system without compromising the security of the users.
What's more, there are times when even these RC versions are insufficient. On some occasions, it happens that the first stable version comes with some fatal mistake that has been corrected in the RC versions, which must be corrected immediately, as happened with Kernel 4.8. For this reason, they do not consider the kernel completely stable until the first maintenance release. In this case, version 4.12.1 would be the first version suitable for working in development environments.
In any case, you can try this latest version downloading it as always in Kernel.org. However, it is not stable and could contain bugs, so it should be noted that it is not suitable for use in development environments or machines with important information.