Linux 7.3 Kernel Maintainers Overwhelmed by Flood of AI-Generated Patches

Linux 7.3 Network Changes Merged But Developers "Completely Overwhelmed" Due To AI/LLMs

All of the networking subsystem feature updates were merged today for the Linux 7.3 kernel's merge window. There are a lot of wired and wireless networking improvements this cycle but also a ton of bug fixes -- including many not so important fixes spun up by AI/LLM agents. The networking subsystem maintainers admit now they are "completely overwhelmed" due to this code churn from the output of AI large language models. Before getting to the Linux 7.3 networking changes this cycle, maintainer Jakub Kicinski noted that they have become "completely overwhelmed" due to the increase in AI usage. As noted in recent weeks/months they have been bombarded with patches, continued craziness, and in turn dropping old networking code/drivers to reduce the AI patch noise for drivers likely being unused by anyone running a modern, up-to-date Linux kernel. Yet the AI/LLM agents are relentless and the networking developers continue to be affected. Their response now though to all this AI activity is... Letting AI agents and frontier models do more of the work moving forward. Jakub remarked in the Linux 7.3 networking pull request: "Quick and dirty count suggests we (Paolo and I) merged a very similar number of net (632) and net-next (648) patches. This is not telling the full story either because 1/3 to 1/2 of the net-next patches also *seem* like AI-driven low priority fixes, cleanups and clarifications. We are completely overwhelmed, of course. The glimmer of hope is that we secured sufficient LLM budget and access (thank you Meta!) to run reviews with multiple frontier models on each patch. This eliminates some hallucinations. That said, in terms of review, the LLMs can only do so much. The sad truth is that our APIs (especially for rare events like PCIe errors, timeouts etc.) have always been racy, and now LLMs don't let us ignore that. I expect our direction for the next release will be to tweak the reviews a little bit more, but start shifting focus to letting the LLMs take care of the busy work - managing patchwork, automating common process complaints, editing commit messages, and maybe applying patches which already got "reviewed-by" tags from people we trust..." So hopefully they will be able to effectively leverage AI themselves to fend off this increase due to AI. Meta is providing for their AI token budget. As for the networking changes this cycle, there is now support for BIG TCP in UDP tunnels with the VXLAN and Geneve drivers, improved multi-patch TCP (MPTCP) handling of extreme memory pressure, and other core improvements. For wired networking drivers there is initial CXL support for AMD/Solarflare NICs, initial skeleton Intel iXD driver, support for firmware flashing on AMD Pensando NICs, and other driver changes. The Intel iXD driver is going to be used for supporting the Intel Control Plane PIC Function on Intel E2100 and later IPUs and FNICs. For Linux 7.3 the very basic Intel iXD driver infrastructure is being put into place. On the WiFi driver side are continued Multi-Link Operation (MLO) enhancements, the new mm81x driver for Morse Micro Long-Range S1G devices, and NXPWIFI as a new wireless driver for NXP devices. The Mediatek MT76 driver added support for the MT7928 and MT7925 NAN. More details on the many networking updates for Linux 7.3 via this pull.

Linux kernel maintainers overwhelmed by surge of AI-generated patches

Linux kernel maintainers have expressed significant concerns regarding the influx of patches generated by artificial intelligence, stating they feel "completely overwhelmed." As part of the recent updates, on August 20, the Linux 7.3 kernel's networking subsystem was enhanced with features such as extended BIG TCP support for UDP tunnels and new wireless drivers, but the maintainers are struggling to manage the volume of AI-generated patches. The primary feature introduced in Linux 7.3 is BIG TCP support for VXLAN and Geneve UDP tunnel drivers. This enhancement allows the kernel's network stack to manage data chunks larger than 64 KiB, which reduces per-packet overhead on high-speed connections. Previously exclusive to direct routing tools like Cilium, BIG TCP now extends its functionality to overlay networks commonly used in cloud and container environments. Developer benchmarks indicated throughput improvements ranging from 10 to 15 percent under standard MTU conditions, with gains nearing 35 percent for VXLAN when hardware tunnel offload was disabled. Jakub Kicinski, a maintainer, noted that he and co-maintainer Paolo Abeni merged 632 patches into the net tree and 648 into net-next, revealing that up to half of the net-next patches appeared to be "AI-driven low priority fixes, cleanups and clarifications." Kicinski stated, "We are completely overwhelmed, of course," highlighting the challenges faced by the maintenance team due to the sheer number of AI-generated submissions. In response to this challenge, the maintainers are leveraging AI to help manage the flow of patches. With support from Meta, they are implementing reviews of incoming patches through multiple frontier models to detect inaccuracies. Kicinski mentioned that the next phase involves automating routine tasks, such as managing patchwork, editing commit messages, and providing procedural feedback with the assistance of large language models. He also noted that certain complex issues, particularly those involving rare race conditions in code paths like PCIe error handlers, cannot be resolved solely by AI. The recent merge also included several new drivers, such as the mm81x driver for Morse Micro's Wi-Fi HaLow devices and an initial skeleton for Intel's iXD driver. Additionally, the MPTCP protocol received updates to improve its performance under extreme memory pressure, while AF_UNIX now features enhanced error reporting capabilities. The first release candidate for Linux 7.3 is anticipated around August 30, with a stable release expected in late October.