Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 5.18-rc6. As the latest weekly candidate release, it is expected to release the stable version of Linux 5.18 in late May.
Torvalds summarizes the new Linux 5.18-rc6 beta candidate as follows:
5.18 looks like it will be one of the larger versions submitted (we'll see its final result - it will now be on par with 5.14, but not as big as 5.13). However, despite the large consolidation window, the scale of candidate release versions is generally moderate, and RC6 continues this trend. I've been expecting the "second boot" to land, but 5.18 seems to be "quite clever".
RC6 seems to mainly introduce some driver updates (network drivers and RDMA are prominent, and there are some small random fixes in other places), as well as some common architecture updates (x86 KVM repair, a long-standing x86 kernel FP use problem, and some parisc and PowerPC repairs). In addition, there are some self-test updates of wireguard.
See Torvalds' other pleasant comments on the kernel mailing list:
The stable version of Linux 5.18 will be released in 2 ~ 3 weeks, depending on how the rest of the cycle is carried out.