Linux Kernel: Timekeeping Hardening and 7.4-rc1
Version 7.4-rc1 closed on November 2nd with timekeeping as the dominant theme, spanning timer edge-case fixes, a CPU time warning fix, and RTC changes for Y2038 readiness. Smaller irqchip, scheduler, and bootconfig fixes round out a reliability-focused window.
Duration: PT2M32S
Episode overview
This episode is a short developer briefing from Linux Kernel.
It explains recent repository work in plain language.
- Show: Linux Kernel
- Published: 2026-11-02T14:13:47Z
- Audio duration: PT2M32S
Transcript excerpt
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Good morning, it's Monday, November 2nd, 2026, and this is your Linux Kernel briefing.
The lead signal is time correctness, as the 7.4 release candidate 1 milestone landed alongside a cluster of timer, clock, and real-time clock fixes aimed at reliability.
First, core timekeeping. In commit 7a3d274, the timers urgent pull fixes a set of edge cases that matter for correctness under rare conditions. That includes a new cleanup helper for on-stack high-resolution timers used to harden idle handling, proper handling of a null output pointer in the clock resolution query…
Closely related, in commit 46fec1c, a scheduler fix stops a false-positive CPU time warning that could trigger after a clocksource switch when a tick period starts after idle exit. That reduces noise and false alarms in testing.
Second, real-time clocks. In commit 9b6f2ea, the RTC pull makes the hardware-clock-to-system-time limit for 32-bit platforms configurable to help systems get past Y2038, adds a new driver for the Raspberry Pi 5 RTC, and extends existing drivers to cover Abracon, Ricoh, Renesas, and Allwinner parts. It also…
Finally, two small correctness fixes: in commit 65cac12, irqchip fixes for RISC-V…
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