On 18 October 2026, Linus Torvalds released Linux 7.3, a record kernel with 18,765 commits from 3,021 developers — 807 of them first-time contributors — plus new work across filesystems, the scheduler, and BPF. Before you update production servers, read what actually changed and what can wait for 7.4.
On October 8, 2026, the Linux 7.3 Git merge deprecated EXT4’s data=journal mode, which writes file data and metadata to the journal before committing them, with removal scheduled for early 2028. Check your mount options in /etc/fstab: if you don’t enable data=journal explicitly, this deprecation does not affect you.
The Linux 7.3 kernel, expected in September 2026, removes the FreeVxFS driver after twenty years of inactivity and welcomes FailFS, a fake filesystem for testing. This summer cleanup illustrates a maintenance philosophy that sets Linux apart from its competitors.
In 2026, Btrfs and OpenZFS 2.4 dominate advanced Linux storage. One lives inside the kernel, the other requires an out-of-tree module — and that single detail changes everything depending on whether you run a desktop, a NAS, or a server.
