Linux 7.4 Merge Window Saw Nearly 20k Commits, Source Tree Approaching 42 Million Lines

Linux 7.3 started out just under 41 million lines in total in the kernel source tree. In the end the Linux v7.3 tag came in at 41,019,555 lines as measured by cloc while now with Linux 7.4 we are inching ever closer to 42 million lines. On a Git commit basis, the Linux 7.4 merge window has been the busiest on record. Linux 7.4-rc1 will likely be released later today. The kernel merge window is typically two weeks but in the Linux 7.3 announcement, Torvalds did note the possibility of an extra week to the merge window since this cycle collided with his holidays. However, as he appears caught-up with all of the merge requests thus far, he will presumably go ahead and release Linux 7.4-rc1 later today rather than dragging it out an extra week for little reason. In any event, I was curious how Linux 7.4 is sizing up after the very busy merge window. With Linux 7.3 it came in at 41.019 million lines between 5,138,701 blank lines in code files, 4,918,548 lines of comments, and then 30,962,306 lines of detected actual code by cloc. As of this morning in Linux Git ahead of v7.4-rc1, the kernel source tree is up to 41,605,120 lines. That's from 5,193,578 blank lines, 4,993,604 lines of comments, and 31,417,938 lines of detected code. Or nearly half a million lines of code added during the Linux 7.4 merge window, ignoring comments and blank lines. The kernel source tree continues to grow and its likely that by the time of Linux 7.5 in the new year it will be past 42 million lines. Just some food for thought for those curious about the size of this merge window and how big the kernel codebase is up to, especially in this era of AI/LLM driven activity. Or in looking at Git commits rather than L.O.C., since Linux 7.3 there have been 19,671 commits. In comparison from Linux v7.2 to v7.3-rc1 was 16,267 commits. Or from Linux v7.1 to v7.2-rc1 was 14,395 commits or 13,963 commits back during the v7.1 merge window. The Linux 7.4 merge window has seen significantly more commits than typical for a Linux kernel merge window period. About The Author Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.