Linux 7.2 Merge Window Closes With strncpy Removal, NVIDIA Blackwell-Next Prep, and KUnit JUnit Support

The Linux 7.2 merge window closed on June 20, 2026, delivering three significant changes: the complete removal of the bug-prone strncpy() function from the kernel source tree, early VFIO enablement for NVIDIA's upcoming Blackwell-Next GPU architecture, and JUnit output support for the KUnit testing framework.

The strncpy() removal campaign took six years and required 362 incremental patches. The kernel's own documentation had long labeled the function "actively dangerous" due to its tendency to silently truncate strings or fail to null-terminate buffers, creating a common source of memory safety bugs.

strncpy Removal: A Six-Year Cleanup Campaign

The effort to eliminate strncpy() from the Linux kernel began in 2020. Developers replaced each call site with safer alternatives such as strscpy() or memcpy() with explicit length checks. The final patches removed the last per-CPU-architecture optimized implementations of strncpy() from the kernel source tree.

• 362 patches were required to remove all strncpy() call sites across every subsystem, driver, and architecture-specific file.
• The function was labeled "actively dangerous" in kernel documentation due to its non-standard behavior: it does not null-terminate the destination if the source is longer than the buffer.
• Developers replaced strncpy() with strscpy(), which guarantees null-termination and returns an error code on truncation.

NVIDIA Blackwell-Next VFIO Enablement

During the VFIO subsystem merge for Linux 7.2, NVIDIA contributed patches that introduce the first kernel-level references to "Blackwell-Next," the successor to the Blackwell GPU architecture. The patches add VFIO device support for the upcoming hardware, allowing virtual machines to directly access the GPU via PCI passthrough.

The Blackwell-Next VFIO enablement is an early step. Full driver support for the architecture is expected in future kernel releases as NVIDIA continues to develop its open-source kernel modules.

KUnit Finally Supports JUnit Output

KUnit, the Linux kernel's unit testing framework inspired by Java's JUnit, now supports outputting test results in the JUnit XML format. This change improves interoperability with continuous integration systems that standardize on JUnit format, such as Jenkins, GitLab CI, and GitHub Actions.

KUnit developers had discussed JUnit output support for years. The feature allows kernel developers to integrate KUnit tests into existing CI pipelines without custom parsing scripts.

Linux 7.2 is expected to be released as a stable kernel in late July 2026. The merge window also included other changes such as a new NTFS driver with Windows native symlink support and IOmap conversion for the exFAT file system, which improves performance.