Linux kernel release version

The Linux Kernel Archives

If you have questions, comments or concerns about the F.A.Q. please contact us at webmaster@kernel.org.

Is Linux Kernel Free Software?

Linux kernel is released under GNU GPL version 2 and is therefore Free Software as defined by the Free Software Foundation. You may read the entire copy of the license in the COPYING file distributed with each release of the Linux kernel.

What does «stable/EOL» and «longterm» mean?

As kernels move from the «mainline» into the «stable» category, two things can happen:

1. They can reach «End of Life» after a few bugfix revisions, which means that kernel maintainers will release no more bugfixes for this kernel version, or
2. They can be put into «longterm» maintenance, which means that maintainers will provide bugfixes for this kernel revision for a much longer period of time.

If the kernel version you are using is marked «EOL,» you should consider upgrading to the next major version as there will be no more bugfixes provided for the kernel version you are using.

Please check the Releases page for more info.

Why is an LTS kernel marked as «stable» on the front page?

Long-term support («LTS») kernels announced on the Releases page will be marked as «stable» on the front page if there are no other current stable kernel releases. This is done to avoid breaking automated parsers monitoring kernel.org with an expectation that there will always be a kernel release marked as «stable.»

Linus has tagged a new release, but it’s not listed on the front page!

Linus Torvalds PGP-signs git repository tags for all new mainline kernel releases, however a separate set of PGP signatures needs to be generated by the stable release team in order to create downloadable tarballs. Due to timezone differences between Linus and the members of the stable team, there is usually a delay of several hours between when the new mainline release is tagged and when PGP-signed tarballs become available. The front page is updated once that process is completed.

Is there an RSS feed for the latest kernel version?

We also publish a .json file with the latest release information, which you can pull from here: https://www.kernel.org/releases.json.

Why are there files that are dated tomorrow?

All timestamps on kernel.org are in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). If you live in the western hemisphere your local time lags behind UTC. Under Linux/Unix, type date -u to get the current time in UTC.

Can I get an account on kernel.org?

Kernel.org accounts are usually reserved for subsystem maintainers or high-profile developers. It is absolutely not necessary to have an account on kernel.org to contribute to the development of the Linux kernel, unless you submit pull requests directly to Linus.

If you are listed in the MAINTAINERS file or have reasons to believe you should have an account on kernel.org because of the amount of your contributions, please refer to the accounts wiki page for the procedure to follow.

I have cool project X, can you guys mirror it for me?

Probably not. Kernel.org deals with the Linux kernel, various distributions of the kernel and larger repositories of packages. We do not mirror individual projects, software, etc as we feel there are better places providing mirrors for those kinds of repositories. If you feel that kernel.org should mirror your project, please contact ftpadmin@kernel.org with the following information:

• name
• project name
• project website
• detailed project description
• reason for wanting us to mirror

The Kernel.org admin team will then review your request and talk to you about it. As with any kind of account on kernel.org it’s up to the discretion of the admin team.

How does kernel.org provide its users access to the git trees?

We are using an access control system called gitolite, originally written and maintained by Sitaram Chamarty. We chose gitolite for a number of reasons:

• Limiting of ssh access to the system
• Fine grained control over repository access
• Well maintained and supported code base
• Responsive development
• Broad and diverse install base

As well at the time of deployment the code had undergone an external code review.

How do I create an -rc kernel? I get «Reversed patch detected!»

-rc kernel patches are generated from the base stable release.

For example: to create the 2.6.14-rc5 kernel, you must:

• download 2.6.13 (not 2.6.13.4)
• and then apply the 2.6.14-rc5 patch.

Yes, you want 2.6.13, not 2.6.14. Remember, that’s an -rc kernel, as in, 2.6.14 doesn’t exist yet. 🙂

Where can I find kernel 2.4.20-3.16?

Kernel version numbers of this form are distribution kernels, meaning they are modified kernels produced by distributions. Please contact the relevant distributor; or check out https://mirrors.kernel.org/.

See the Releases page for more info on distribution kernels.

I need help building/patching/fixing Linux kernel/modules/drivers!

Please see the Kernel Newbies website.

There is also a wealth of knowledge on many topics involving Linux at The Linux Documentation Project (http://www.tldp.org)

For finding or reporting bugs, look through the archives for the various Linux mailing lists, and if no specific list seems appropriate, try the browsing the Linux Kernel Mailing List.

What happened to ftp.kernel.org?

FTP service was terminated on March 1, 2017. All content that used to be available via ftp.kernel.org can be accessed by browsing https://www.kernel.org/pub/. If you would like to use a command-line tool for accessing these files, you can do so with lftp:

When will the next kernel be released?

The next kernel will be released when it is ready. There is no strict timeline for making releases, but if you really need an educated guess, visit the Linux kernel PHB Crystal Ball — it tries to provide a ballpark guess based on previous kernel release schedule.

What will go into the next release?

It is hard to predict with certainty, but you can either take a peek at linux-next or read the Linux Weather Forecast, where Jonathan Corbet provides a broad forecast of what will likely be included into the next mainline release.

Other resources

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The Linux Kernel Archives

There are several main categories into which kernel releases may fall:

Prepatch Prepatch or «RC» kernels are mainline kernel pre-releases that are mostly aimed at other kernel developers and Linux enthusiasts. They must be compiled from source and usually contain new features that must be tested before they can be put into a stable release. Prepatch kernels are maintained and released by Linus Torvalds. Mainline Mainline tree is maintained by Linus Torvalds. It’s the tree where all new features are introduced and where all the exciting new development happens. New mainline kernels are released every 2-3 months. Stable After each mainline kernel is released, it is considered «stable.» Any bug fixes for a stable kernel are backported from the mainline tree and applied by a designated stable kernel maintainer. There are usually only a few bugfix kernel releases until next mainline kernel becomes available — unless it is designated a «longterm maintenance kernel.» Stable kernel updates are released on as-needed basis, usually once a week. Longterm There are usually several «longterm maintenance» kernel releases provided for the purposes of backporting bugfixes for older kernel trees. Only important bugfixes are applied to such kernels and they don’t usually see very frequent releases, especially for older trees.

Longterm release kernels

Version	Maintainer	Released	Projected EOL
5.10	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2020-12-13	Dec, 2026
5.4	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2019-11-24	Dec, 2025
4.19	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2018-10-22	Dec, 2024
4.14	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2017-11-12	Jan, 2024
4.9	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2016-12-11	Jan, 2023
4.4	Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin	2016-01-10	Feb, 2022

Distribution kernels

Many Linux distributions provide their own «longterm maintenance» kernels that may or may not be based on those maintained by kernel developers. These kernel releases are not hosted at kernel.org and kernel developers can provide no support for them.

It is easy to tell if you are running a distribution kernel. Unless you downloaded, compiled and installed your own version of kernel from kernel.org, you are running a distribution kernel. To find out the version of your kernel, run uname -r :

If you see anything at all after the dash, you are running a distribution kernel. Please use the support channels offered by your distribution vendor to obtain kernel support.

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3 Ways to Check Linux Kernel Version in Command Line

Last updated October 29, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 25 Comments

Brief: Wondering which Linux kernel version your system uses? Here are several ways to check your kernel version in the Linux terminal.

You may find yourself in a situation where you need to know the exact Linux kernel version being used on your system. Thanks to the powerful Linux command line, you can easily find that out.

Quick way to check Linux kernel version

You can use the following command to get the Linux kernel version:

uname -r

There are other ways to get even more detailed information about kernel. Read the rest of the article to learn it in detail.

In this article, I’ll show you various methods for finding out your kernel version and tell you what those numbers actually mean. If you prefer videos, here’s a quick one. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux tips.

How to find Linux kernel version

I am using Ubuntu while writing this article. But these commands are generic and can be used on Fedora, Debian, CentOS, SUSE Linux or any other Linux distribution.

1. Find Linux kernel using uname command

uname is the Linux command for getting system information. You can also use it to find out whether you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit system.

Open a terminal and type in the following command:

The output will be something similar to this:

This means that you’re running Linux kernel 4.4.0-97, or in more generic terms, you are running Linux kernel version 4.4.

But what do the other digits mean here? Let me explain:

• 4 – Kernel version
• 4 – Major revision
• 0 – Minor revision
• 97 – Bug fix
• generic – Distribution-specific string. For Ubuntu, it means I’m using the desktop version. For Ubuntu server edition, it would be ‘server’.

You can also use the uname command with the option -a. This will provide more system information if you need it.

The output of the command should like this:

Let me explain the output and what it means:

• Linux – Kernel name. If you run the same command on BSD or macOS, the result will be different.
• itsfoss – Hostname.
• 4.4.0-97-generic – Kernel release (as we saw above).
• #120-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 19 17:28:18 UTC 2017 – This means that Ubuntu has compiled 4.4.0-97-generic 120 times. A timestamp for the last compilation is also there.
• x86_64 – Machine architecture.
• x86_64 – Processor architecture.
• x86_64 – Operating system architecture (you can run a 32-bit OS on a 64-bit processor).
• GNU/Linux – Operating system (and no, it won’t show the distribution name).

But I’ll save you from information overload. Let’s see some other commands to find your Linux kernel version.

2. Find Linux kernel using /proc/version file

In Linux, you can also find the kernel information in the file /proc/version. Just look at the contents of this file:

You’ll see an output similar to what you saw with uname.

You can see the kernel version 4.4.0-97-generic here.

3. Find Linux kernel version using dmesg commad

dmesg is a powerful command used for writing kernel messages. It’s also very useful for getting system information.

Since dmesg provides an awful lot of information, you should normally use a command like less to read it. But since we’re here just to check the Linux kernel version, grepping on ‘Linux’ should give the desired output.

The output will have a few lines but you should be able to identify the Linux kernel version there easily.

How do you check your Linux kernel version and other information?

Of the three ways discussed here, I use uname all the time. It’s the most convenient.

What about you? Which command do you prefer for getting Linux kernel information?

Like what you read? Please share it with others.

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Linux kernel release version

This is a list of links to every changelog.

Linux_5.13 Released Sun, 27 June 2021 (63 days)

Linux_5.12 Released Sun, 25 Apr 2021 (70 days)

Linux_5.11 Released Sun, 14 Feb 2021 (63 days)

Linux_5.10 Released Sun, 13 December 2020 (63 days)

Linux_5.9 Released Sun, 11 October 2020 (70 days)

Linux_5.8 Released Sun, 2 August 2020 (64 days)

Linux_5.7 Released Sun, 31 May 2020 (63 days)

Linux_5.6 Released Sun, 29 March 2020 (63 days)

Linux_5.5 Released Sun, 26 January 2020 (63 days)

Linux_5.4 Released Sun, 24 Nov 2019 (70 days)

Linux_5.3 Released Sun, 15 September 2019 (70 days)

Linux_5.2 Released Sun, 7 July 2019 (63 days)

Linux_5.1 Released Sun, 5 May 2019 (63 days)

Linux_5.0 Released Sun, 3 March 2019 (70 days)

Linux_4.20 Released 23 December, 2018 (62 days)

Linux_4.19 Released 22 October, 2018 (71 days)

Linux_4.18 Released 12 August, 2018 (70 days)

Linux_4.17 Released 3 Jun, 2018 (63 days)

Linux_4.16 Released 1 Apr, 2018 (73 days)

Linux_4.15 Released 18 January, 2018 (77 days)

Linux_4.14 Released 12 November, 2017 (70 days)

Linux_4.13 Released 3 September, 2017 (63 days)

Linux_4.12 Released 2 July, 2017 (63 days)

Linux_4.11 Released 30 April, 2017 (70 days)

Linux_4.10 Released 19 February, 2017 (70 days)

Linux_4.9 Released 11 December, 2016 (70 days)

Linux_4.8 Released 2 October, 2016 (70 days)

Linux_4.7 Released 24 July, 2016 (70 days)

Linux_4.6 Released 15 May, 2016 (63 days)

Linux_4.5 Released 13 March, 2016 (63 days)

Linux_4.4 Released 10 January, 2016 (70 days)

Linux_4.3 Released 1 November, 2015 (63 days)

Linux_4.2 Released 30 August, 2015 (70 days)

Linux_4.1 Released 21 June, 2015 (70 days)

Linux_4.0 Released 12 April, 2015 (63 days)

Linux_3.19 Released 8 February, 2015 (63 days)

Linux_3.18 Released 7 December, 2014 (63 days)

Linux_3.17 Released 5 October, 2014 (63 days)

Linux_3.16 Released 3 August, 2014 (56 days)

Linux_3.15 Released 8 June, 2014 (70 days)

Linux_3.14 Released 30 March, 2014 (70 days)

Linux_3.13 Released 19 January, 2014 (78 days)

Linux_3.12 Released 2 November, 2013 (61 days)

Linux_3.11 Released 2 September, 2013 (64 days)

Linux_3.10 Released 30 June, 2013 (63 days)

Linux_3.9 Released 28 April, 2013 (69 days)

Linux_3.8 Released 18 February, 2013 70 ( days)

Linux_3.7 Released 10 December 2012 (71 days)

Linux_3.6 Released 30 September, 2012 (71 days)

Linux_3.5 Released 21 July, 2012 (62 days)

Linux_3.4 Released 20 May, 2012 (63 days)

Linux_3.3 Released 18 March, 2012 (74 days)

Linux_3.2 Released 4 January, 2012 (72 days)

Linux_3.1 Released 24 October, 2011 (95 days)

Linux_3.0 Released 21 July, 2011 (64 days)

Linux 2.6.39 Released 18 May, 2011 (65 days)

Linux 2.6.38 Released 14 March, 2011 (69 days)

Linux 2.6.37 Released 4 January, 2011 (76 days)

Linux 2.6.36 Released 20 October, 2010 (80 days)

Linux 2.6.35 Released 1 August, 2010 (76 days)

Linux 2.6.34 Released 16 May, 2010 (81 days)

Linux 2.6.33 Released 24 February, 2010 (83 days)

Linux 2.6.32 Released 3 December, 2009 (84 days)

Linux 2.6.31 Released 9 September, 2009 (92 days)

Linux 2.6.30 Released 9 June, 2009 (77 days)

Linux 2.6.29 Released 24 March, 2009 (89 days)

Linux 2.6.28 Released 25 December, 2008 (77 days)

Linux 2.6.27 Released 9 October, 2008 (88 days)

Linux 2.6.26 Released 13 July, 2008 (87 days)

Linux 2.6.25 Released 17 April, 2008 (84 days)

Linux 2.6.24 Released 24 January, 2008 (107 days)

Linux 2.6.23 Released 9 October, 2007 (93 days)

Linux 2.6.22 Released 8 July, 2007 (73 days)

Linux 2.6.21 Released 26 April, 2007 (80 days)

Linux 2.6.20 Released 5 February, 2007 (68 days)

Linux 2.6.19 Released 29 November, 2006 (70 days)

Linux 2.6.18 Released 20 September, 2006 (95 days)

Linux 2.6.17 Released 17 June, 2006 (88 days)

Linux 2.6.16 Released 20 March, 2006 (76 days)

Linux 2.6.15 Released 3 January, 2006 (68 days)

Linux 2.6.14 Released 27 October, 2005 (59 days)

Linux 2.6.13 Released 29 August, 2005 (73 days)

Linux 2.6.12 Released 17 June, 2005 (107 days)

Linux 2.6.11 Released 2 March, 2005 (68 days)

Linux 2.6.10 Released 24 December, 2004 (66 days)

Linux 2.6.9 Released 19 October, 2004 (66 days)

Linux 2.6.8 Released 14 August, 2004 (59 days)

Linux 2.6.7 Released 16 June, 2004 (37 days)

Linux 2.6.6 Released 10 May, 2004 (36 days)

Linux 2.6.5 Released 4 April, 2004 (24 days)

Linux 2.6.4 Released 11 March, 2004 (22 days)

Linux 2.6.3 Released 18 February, 2004 (14 days)

Linux 2.6.2 Released 4 February, 2004 (26 days)

Linux 2.6.1 Released 9 January, 2004 (22 days)

Linux 2.6.0 Released 18 December, 2003

Libata driver architecture (LWN article)

2.5.75 released July 10, 2003:

2.5.74 released July 2, 2003:

2.5.73 released June 22, 2003:

2.5.72 released June 17, 2003:

2.5.71 released June 14, 2003:

2.5.70 released May 27, 2003:

2.5.69 released May 5, 2003:

New interrupt handling API (LWN article)

Runtime barrier instruction patching: Allows optimal performance on different processors without the need to ship multiple kernels

2.5.68 released April 20, 2003:

• Merging s390 and s390x into a single architecture
• Generation of hotplug events from kobject registration

2.5.67 released April 7, 2003:

2.5.66 released March 24, 2003:

2.5.65 released March 17, 2003:

2.5.64 released March 5, 2003:

2.5.63 released February 24, 2003:

2.5.62 released February 17, 2003:

2.5.61 released February 15, 2003:

2.5.60 released February 10, 2003:

• New modversions implementation
• 64-bit jiffies

2.5.59 released Janury 17, 2003:

2.5.58 released January 14, 2003:

2.5.57 released January 13, 2003:

2.5.56 released January 10, 2003:

2.5.55 released January 9, 2003:

2.5.54 released January 2, 2003:

2.5.53 released December 24, 2002:

• SYSENTER/SYSEXIT support: Systems that support the SYSENTER extension (Basically Intel Pentium-II and above, and AMD Athlons) now have a faster method of making the transition from userspace to kernelspace when a syscall is performed. Pentium Pro also has SYSENTER, but due to errata, is unusable. Need an updated glibc to use it.

2.5.52 released December 16, 2002:

2.5.51 released December 10, 2002:

2.5.50 released November 27, 2002:

2.5.49 released November 22, 2002:

2.5.48 released November 18, 2002:

2.5.47 released November 11, 2002:

2.5.46 released November 4, 2002:

Per-cpu hot & cold page lists

2.5.45 released October 31, 2002:

2.5.44 released October 19, 2002:

New sysfs filesystem (formerly known as driverfs) (LWN article)
Plug’N Play Layer Rewrite

x86 BIOS Enhanced Disk Device (EDD) polling (LWN article)

2.5.43 released October 16, 2002:

2.5.42 released October 12, 2002:

Remove the 2TB block device limit: Block devices can now access up to 16TB on 32-bit architectures, and up to 8EB on 64-bit architectures. statfs64() syscall added: statfs() couldn’t handle it.

Improved i2o (Intelligent Input/Ouput) layer

2.5.41 released October 7, 2002:

2.5.40 released October 1, 2002:

2.5.39 released September 27, 2002:

• New IO scheduler («deadline»)

2.5.38 released September 22, 2002:

2.5.37 released September 20, 2002:

2.5.36 released September 18, 2002:

Hugepage support

2.5.35 released September 16, 2002:

Serial ATA support

2.5.34 released September 9, 2002:

POSIX threading support for signals

2.5.33 released August 31, 2002:

TCP segmentation offload

2.5.32 released August 27, 2002:

Asynchronous IO (aio) support

Porting all input devices over to input API

New MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) driver

2.5.31 released August 11, 2002:

• Support insane number of processes
• Disk description cleanups
• Remove incomplete SPX network stack

2.5.30 released August 1, 2002:

• Remove khttpd

2.5.29 released July 27, 2002:

Strict address space accounting

2.5.28 released July 24, 2002:

• Remove the «Big IRQ lock»
• Serial driver restructure

2.5.27 released July 20, 2002:

2.5.26 releasaed July 16, 2002:

Direct pagecache BIO disk I/O

2.5.25 releaseed July 5, 2002:

2.5.24 released June 20, 2002:

2.5.23 released June 19, 2002:

2.5.22 released June 17, 2002:

2.5.21 released June 9, 2002:

2.5.20 released June 3, 2002:

2.5.19 released May 29, 2002:

2.5.18 released May 25, 2002:

->getattr() ->setattr() ->permission() changes

2.5.17 released May 21, 2002:

Move ISDN4linux to CAPI based interface

2.5.16 released May 18, 2002:

2.5.15 released May 9, 2002:

2.5.14 released May 6, 2002:

Bluetooth support (no longer experimental!)

2.5.13 released May 3, 2002:

2.5.12 released May 1, 2002:

• Rewrite of the buffer layer

2.5.11 released April 29, 2002:

Rewrite of the framebuffer layer

2.5.10 released April 24, 2002:

2.5.9 released April 22, 2002:

• Smarter IRQ balancing

2.5.8 released April 14, 2002:

2.5.7 released March 18, 2002:

2.5.6 released March 8, 2002:

Unicode and large file support for smbfs

2.5.5 released February 20, 2002:

2.5.4 released February 11, 2002:

Per network protocol slabcache & sock.h

2.5.3 released January 30, 2002:

PnP BIOS driver
Generic Extended Attribute support

2.5.2 released January 15, 2002:

2.5.1 December 17, 2001:

• VFS changes: Now it is possible to atomically move a subtree to another place, «mount —move olddir newdir»
• Rewrite of the block IO (bio) layer

KernelNewbies: LinuxVersions (последним исправлял пользователь diegocalleja 2021-09-04 00:39:22)

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