In the Linux kernel version 4.19-rc4, we already learned about Linus Torvalds . In the email published in the LKML, he apologized for his behavior and announced his temporary withdrawal from the Linux project to seek guidance on his conduct and perhaps to dedicate himself to another project, as he did with Git. However, I hope he returns soon, perhaps for 4.20, according to what some influential people in the US have told me, but the truth is, we don't know for sure when he will rejoin…
Well, now comes the next stage of development, as the project, despite its creator stepping aside, continues. As we know, the German Greg Kroah-Hartman is Linus's right-hand man and the one who would inherit the project when Linus retires or is no longer around. And that's what he's done now; during Linus's temporary retirement, he's taken the reins, so the kernel is in good hands. He was the one who published the email on the LKML announcing the release of Linux 4.19-rc5 , that is, the fifth Release Candidate. This is the first RC since Linus's departure, as we've mentioned. Greg took the opportunity to say that this week has been interesting from a social point of view because of what has happened. He also took the opportunity to say that from a technical point of view, rc5 is a fairly standard release, without any notable problems or anything like that. The most notable changes relate to x86 and PPC architectures, network controllers, sound controllers and ASLA, DRM/AMD GPU, etc., as usual.
Other changes that have been introduced also relate to Bluetooth, Xen, KVM, SCSI, ARM, ext4, and other subsystems, although the most relevant changes are those mentioned in the previous paragraph. Finally, Greg has also encouraged people to download this new version from kernel.org and test it to see if everything works properly, or if anything goes wrong, to report the problems so they can be fixed before the final release of kernel 4.19.