Kernel prepatch 7.4-rc1

The 7.4-rc1 kernel prepatch is out, andthe merge window is closed for this development cycle.

This is a *BIG* merge window. I think the reason is the by nowobvious one, but I'm actually taking it as a good sign: I'm *much*happier with the flood of AI triggered work going into the mergewindow than it showing up mainly as extra fixes during the -rcperiod. So I'm hoping that this merge window being larger thanusual is a sign that the AI fixes are becoming more part of the"normal development" than a flood of fixes that go into the wholestabilization phase. I think that's a much healthier model.

There were 18,591 non-merge changesets brought in during this merge window- this is not just a record, but it nearly matches the patch volume duringthe entire (record-setting) 7.3 development cycle. So far, 2,678developers have contributed to 7.4; 625 of them are first-time kernelcontributors. Subscribers can find more details in the KSDB 7.4 page.