This article is missing information about prominent features of versions before 2021.(May 2023) |
This article documents the version history of the Linux kernel.
Each major version – identified by the first two numbers of a release version – is designated one of the following levels of support:
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6.9 | 12 May 2024 [1] | 6.9.3 [3] | Linus Torvalds |
| ||
6.8 | 10 March 2024 [1] | 6.8.12 [5] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin | 30 May 2024 [6] | ||
6.7 | 8 January 2024 [1] | 6.7.12 [5] | 3 April 2024 |
|
According to Linus Torvalds, "one of the largest kernel releases we've ever had" [7] | |
6.6 | 30 October 2023 [1] | 6.6.32 [5] | December 2026 |
|
24th LTS release
The CFS scheduler was the de facto standard for 16+ years ReiserFS is now declared to be obsolete and flagged for removal in 2025. | |
6.5 | 27 August 2023 [1] | 6.5.13 [5] | 28 November 2023 [10] | |||
6.4 | 25 June 2023 [1] | 6.4.16 [5] | 13 September 2023 [11] |
|
||
6.3 | 23 April 2023 [1] | 6.3.13 [5] | 11 July 2023 [15] |
|
||
6.2 | 19 February 2023 [1] | 6.2.16 [5] | 17 May 2023 [16] |
|
||
6.1 | 11 December 2022 [17] | 6.1.92
[5]
6.1.90-cip20 [18] |
December 2026
[1]
August 2033 [19] |
|
23rd LTS release Used in Debian 12 "Bookworm" [24] 4th SLTS release (which CIP [25] is planning [19] to support until August 2033) 6.1.28 is named Curry Ramen [26] | |
6.0 | 2 October 2022 [27] | 6.0.19 [28] | January 2023 [28] | Named "Hurr durr I'ma [ sic] ninja sloth" [31] | ||
Legend: Old version Older version, still maintained Latest version Latest preview version |
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5.19 | 31 July 2022 [32] | 5.19.17 [33] | Linus Torvalds | October 2022 [33] |
|
|
5.18 | 22 May 2022 [37] | 5.18.19 [38] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | August 2022 [38] | ||
5.17 | 20 March 2022 [46] | 5.17.15 [47] | June 2022 [47] | Used in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on newer hardware
[54]
Named Superb Owl [55] | ||
5.16 | 9 January 2022 [56] | 5.16.20 [57] | April 2022 [57] | |||
5.15 | 31 October 2021 [62] | 5.15.160 [5] | October 2026 [1] | 22nd LTS release; used in
Named Trick or Treat [68] | ||
5.14 | 29 August 2021 [69] | 5.14.21 [70] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2021 [70] | Used in RHEL 9.x and derivatives [71] (Redhat ignores LTS-Kernel, own kernel-backports) and SLE 15 SP4/ openSUSE Leap 15.4 | |
5.13 | 27 June 2021 [72] | 5.13.19 [73] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin | September 2021 [73] | Named Opossums on Parade | |
5.12 | 25 April 2021 [75] | 5.12.19 [76] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2021 [76] | Named Frozen Wasteland [77] [78] | |
5.11 | 14 February 2021 [79] | 5.11.22 [80] | May 2021 [80] | Named "💕 Valentine's Day Edition 💕" [81] | ||
5.10 | 13 December 2020 [82] | 5.10.218
[5]
5.10.216-cip47 [18] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | December 2026
[1]
[83] January 2031 [19] |
21st LTS release; used in
Debian 11 "Bullseye"
[84]
3rd SLTS release (which CIP [85] is planning [19] to support until January 2031) Named "Dare mighty things" [86] | |
5.9 | 11 October 2020 [87] | 5.9.16 [88] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2020 [88] | ||
5.8 | 2 August 2020 [89] | 5.8.18 [90] | November 2020 [90] | |||
5.7 | 31 May 2020 [91] | 5.7.19 [92] | August 2020 [92] | |||
5.6 | 29 March 2020 [93] | 5.6.19 [94] | June 2020 [94] | |||
5.5 | 26 January 2020 [95] | 5.5.19 [96] | April 2020 [96] | |||
5.4 | 24 November 2019 [97] | 5.4.277 [5] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | December 2025 [1] | 20th LTS release, used in
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4-rc2 is named Nesting Opossum [98] 5.4-rc5 is named Kleptomaniac Octopus [99] | |
5.3 | 15 September 2019 [100] | 5.3.18 [101] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2019 [101] | ||
5.2 | 7 July 2019 [102] | 5.2.20 [103] | October 2019 [103] | 5.2-rc2 is named
Golden Lions
[104]
[105] 5.2 is named Bobtail Squid [106] | ||
5.1 | 5 May 2019 [107] | 5.1.21 [108] | July 2019 [108] |
|
||
5.0 | 3 March 2019 [110] | 5.0.21 [111] | June 2019 [111] | |||
Legend: Old version Older version, still maintained |
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.20 | 23 December 2018 [112] | 4.20.17 [113] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | March 2019 [113] | Named Shy Crocodile [114] | |
4.19 | 22 October 2018 [115] | 4.19.315
[5]
4.19.312-cip109 [18] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | December 2024
[1]
[116] January 2029 [19] |
19th LTS release. Used in Debian 10 "Buster". [117] Second SLTS release (which CIP is planning [19] to support until January 2029), and first with ARM64 support. [118] Named "People's Front" [119] | |
4.18 | 12 August 2018 [120] | 4.18.20 [121] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2018 [121] | RHEL 8.x (Redhat ignores LTS-Kernel, own kernel-backports) | |
4.17 | 3 June 2018 [122] | 4.17.19 [123] | August 2018 [123] | Named Merciless Moray [124] | ||
4.16 | 1 April 2018 [125] | 4.16.18 [126] | June 2018 [126] | |||
4.15 | 28 January 2018 [127] | 4.15.18 [128] | April 2018 [128] | Used in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | ||
4.14 | 12 November 2017 [129] | 4.14.336 [130] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | January 2024 [130] | 18th LTS release
4.14.1 is named Petit Gorille [132] | |
4.13 | 3 September 2017 [133] | 4.13.16 [134] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2017 [134] | ||
4.12 | 2 July 2017 [135] | 4.12.14 [136] | September 2017 [136] | |||
4.11 | 30 April 2017 [138] | 4.11.12 [139] | July 2017 [139] | |||
4.10 | 19 February 2017 [140] | 4.10.17 [141] | May 2017 [141] | 4.10-rc5 was named Anniversary Edition
[142] | ||
4.9 | 11 December 2016 [144] | 4.9.337 [5] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin [1] | January 2023 [1] [145] | 17th LTS release. Used in Debian 9 "Stretch". [146] Named Roaring Lionus [147] [148] | |
4.8 | 25 September 2016 [149] | 4.8.17 [150] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2017 [150] | ||
4.7 | 24 July 2016 [151] | 4.7.10 [152] | October 2016 [152] | Named Psychotic Stoned Sheep [153] | ||
4.6 | 15 May 2016 [154] | 4.6.7 [155] | August 2016 [155] | Named Charred Weasel [156] | ||
4.5 | 13 March 2016 [157] | 4.5.7 [158] | June 2016 [159] | |||
4.4 | 10 January 2016 [160] | 4.4.302
[161] 4.4.302-cip87 [162] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin
[1] (until February 2022
[161]) Nobuhiro Iwamatsu & Pavel Machek [19] |
January 2027 [19] | 16th LTS release, used in Slackware 14.2. [163] Canonical provided extended support until April 2021. [164] As the first kernel selected for Super Long Term Support (SLTS), the Civil Infrastructure Platform will provide support until at least 2026. [2] Used in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | |
4.3 | 1 November 2015 [165] | 4.3.6 [166] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | February 2016 [167] | Named Blurry Fish Butt [168] [169] | |
4.2 | 30 August 2015 [170] | 4.2.8 [171] | December 2015 [171] | Canonical provided extended support until July 2016. [172] [173] | ||
4.1 | 22 June 2015 [174] | 4.1.52 [175] | Sasha Levin [1] [176] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) [177] | May 2018 [175] | 15th LTS release. 4.1.1 was named Series 4800 [178] | |
4.0 | 12 April 2015 [179] | 4.0.9 [180] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2015 [181] |
|
Named "Hurr durr I'ma [ sic] sheep" [183] (Internet poll) |
Legend: Old version Older version, still maintained |
The jump from 2.6.x to 3.x wasn't because of a breaking update, but rather the first release of a new versioning scheme introduced as a more convenient system. [184]
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3.19 | 8 February 2015 [185] | 3.19.8 [186] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2015 [186] | Canonical provided extended support until July 2016. [172] [187] | |
3.18 | 7 December 2014 [188] | 3.18.140 [189] | Greg Kroah-Hartman [190] (formerly Sasha Levin [191]) (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | January 2017 [192] | 14th LTS release, named Diseased
Newt
[193] Hartman stated that he will release irregular updates to the 3.18 tree. [194] Starting with 3.18.140, this version will no longer be maintained on kernel.org, but on AOSP | |
3.17 | 5 October 2014 [195] | 3.17.8 [196] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2015 [196] | ||
3.16 | 3 August 2014 [197] | 3.16.85 [198] | Ben Hutchings [1] [199] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | Maintained until October 2014, then May 2016 to June 2020 [198] [1] [200] | 13th LTS release. Was used in
Debian 8 "Jessie".
[201] Canonical provided extended support until April 2016.
[172]
[202]
3.16.1 was named Museum of Fishiegoodies [203] | |
3.15 | 8 June 2014 [204] | 3.15.10 [205] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | August 2014 [205] | ||
3.14 | 30 March 2014 [207] | 3.14.79 [208] | Greg Kroah-Hartman [1] | August 2016 [208] | 12th LTS release, named Shuffling Zombie Juror [210] | |
3.13 | 19 January 2014 [211] | 3.13.11 [212] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | April 2014 [212] | Canonical provided extended support until April 2016. [172] [213] Named One Giant Leap for Frogkind [214] ( NASA LADEE launch photo) [215] Used in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | |
3.12 | 3 November 2013 [216] | 3.12.74 [217] | Jiří Slabý [1] [218] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | May 2017 [218] [217] | 11th LTS release, named Suicidal Squirrel [219] | |
3.11 | 2 September 2013 [220] | 3.11.10 [221] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2013 [221] | Canonical provided extended support until August 2014. [172] Named Linux for Workgroups after the 20 years of Windows 3.11 [223] | |
3.10 | 30 June 2013 [224] | 3.10.108 [225] | Willy Tarreau [1] [226] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | November 2017 [225] | 10th LTS release, 3.10.6 was named TOSSUG Baby Fish [228] [229] [230] used in Slackware 14.1 [231] RHEL 7.x | |
3.9 | 28 April 2013 [232] | 3.9.11 [233] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2013 [233] | 3.9.6 was named Black Squirrel Wakeup Call [235] | |
3.8 | 18 February 2013 [236] | 3.8.13 [237] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2013 [237] | Canonical provided extended support until August 2014.
[172]
[240] Named Unicycling
Gorilla
[241]
[242] | |
3.7 | 10 December 2012 [244] | 3.7.10 [245] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | March 2013 [245] [246] | Named Terrified Chipmunk [248] [249] | |
3.6 | 30 September 2012 [250] | 3.6.11 [251] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2012 [251] |
| |
3.5 | 21 July 2012 [253] | 3.5.7 [254] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | October 2012 [254] | Canonical provided extended support until April 2014. [172] [255] | |
3.4 | 20 May 2012 [256] [257] | 3.4.113 [258] | Li Zefan [1] [259] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | October 2016 [260] | 9th LTS release | |
3.3 | 18 March 2012 [261] | 3.3.8 [262] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | June 2012 [262] | ||
3.2 | 4 January 2012 [263] | 3.2.102 [264] | Ben Hutchings [1] [265] | May 2018 [266] | 8th LTS release, used in
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
[267] and optionally in 12.04 ESM,
[268]
Debian 7 "Wheezy" and
Slackware 14.0.
[1]
[265] Canonical promised to (at least) provide long-term support until April 2017;
[172] Support has continued for months after. | |
3.1 | 24 October 2011 [270] | 3.1.10 [271] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2012 [271] | 3.1 provided the base for real-time tree. 3.1-rc2 was named Wet Seal 3.1 was named Divemaster Edition [272] (Linus' diving activities) | |
3.0 | 21 July 2011 [184] | 3.0.101 [273] | Greg Kroah-Hartman [274] | October 2013 [273] [274] | 7th LTS release Named Sneaky Weasel [276] [277] | |
Legend: Old version |
Versions 2.6.16 and 2.6.27 of the Linux kernel were unofficially given long-term support (LTS), [278] before a 2011 working group in the Linux Foundation started a formal long-term support initiative. [279] [280]
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.6.39 | 18 May 2011 [281] | 2.6.39.4 [282] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | August 2011 [282] | Last stable release of the 2.6 kernel series | |
2.6.38 | 14 March 2011 [283] | 2.6.38.8 [284] | June 2011 [284] | Named Flesh-Eating Bats with Fangs [285] | ||
2.6.37 | 4 January 2011 [286] | 2.6.37.6 [287] | March 2011 [287] | |||
2.6.36 | 20 October 2010 [288] | 2.6.36.4 [289] | February 2011 [289] | |||
2.6.35 | 1 August 2010 [290] | 2.6.35.14 [291] | Andi Kleen [292] | March 2012 [292] | 6th LTS release 2.6.35.7 was named Yokohama | |
2.6.34 | 16 May 2010 [293] | 2.6.34.15 [294] | Paul Gortmaker [295] | February 2014 [294] [295] | 5th LTS release It was named Sheep on Meth [296] [297] | |
2.6.33 | 24 February 2010 [298] | 2.6.33.20 [299] | Greg Kroah-Hartman [300] | November 2011 [299] | 4th LTS release. It was the base for real-time-tree, replaced by 3.0.x. [300] | |
2.6.32 | 2 December 2009 [302] | 2.6.32.71 [303] | Willy Tarreau [1] [304] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) [305] [306] | March 2016 [1] | 3rd LTS release, used in
Debian 6 Squeeze.
[308]
Canonical also provided support until April 2015.
[172]
RHEL 6.x | |
2.6.31 | 9 September 2009 [309] | 2.6.31.14 [310] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2010 [310] | ||
2.6.30 | 9 June 2009 [312] | 2.6.30.9 [313] | October 2009 [313] | 2.6.30-rc4–2.6.30-rc6 was named
Vindictive
Armadillo
[314]
[315] | ||
2.6.29 | 23 March 2009 [317] | 2.6.29.6 [318] | July 2009 [318] | Named Temporary Tasmanian Devil [320] [321] | ||
2.6.28 | 24 December 2008 [322] | 2.6.28.10 [323] | May 2009 [323] | 2.6.28-rc1–2.6.28-rc6 was named Killer
Bat of Doom
[325]
[326] | ||
2.6.27 | 9 October 2008 [328] | 2.6.27.62 [329] | Willy Tarreau [330] (formerly Adrian Bunk, [331] and formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | March 2012 [331] | 2nd LTS release 2.6.27.3 was named Trembling Tortoise [332] | |
2.6.26 | 13 July 2008 [333] | 2.6.26.8 [334] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2008 [334] | 2.6.26–2.6.27 was named Rotary
Wombat
[335] | |
2.6.25 | 16 April 2008 [336] | 2.6.25.20 [337] | November 2008 [337] | Named Funky Weasel is Jiggy wit it [338] | ||
2.6.24 | 24 January 2008 [339] | 2.6.24.7 [340] | May 2008 [340] | 2.6.23-rc4–2.6.23-rc6 was named Pink Farting Weasel
[342] 2.6.23-rc7–2.6.23–2.6.24 was named Arr Matey! A Hairy Bilge Rat!
[343] (
TLAPD 2007) | ||
2.6.23 | 9 October 2007 [345] | 2.6.23.17 [346] | February 2008 [346] | |||
2.6.22 | 8 July 2007 [348] | 2.6.22.19 [349] | February 2008 [349] | 2.6.22-rc3–2.6.22-rc4 was named Jeff Thinks I Should Change This, But To What? 2.6.22-rc5–2.6.22 was named Holy Dancing Manatees, Batman! [351] | ||
2.6.21 | 25 April 2007 [352] | 2.6.21.7 [353] | August 2007 [353] | Named Nocturnal Monster Puppy [355] | ||
2.6.20 | 4 February 2007 [356] | 2.6.20.21 [357] | October 2007 [357] | Named Homicidal Dwarf Hamster [359] [360] | ||
2.6.19 | 29 November 2006 [361] | 2.6.19.7 [362] | March 2007 [362] | Named Avast! A bilge rat! ( TLAPD 2006) [366] | ||
2.6.18 | 20 September 2006 [367] | 2.6.18.8 [368] | February 2007
[368]
2.6.18: RHEL 5.x |
|||
2.6.17 | 17 June 2006 [370] | 2.6.17.14 [371] | October 2006 [371] | 2.6.17-rc5 was named
Lordi Rules
[373] (
Eurovision 2006 winners)
[374] 2.6.17-rc6–2.6.17 was named Crazed Snow-Weasel [375] | ||
2.6.16 | 20 March 2006 [376] | 2.6.16.62 [377] | Adrian Bunk [378] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) [305] | July 2008 [379] [377] | 1st LTS release 2.6.16.28-rc2 was named Stable Penguin | |
2.6.15 | 2 January 2006 [381] | 2.6.15.7 [382] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2006 [382] |
|
Named Sliding Snow Leopard [384] |
2.6.14 | 27 October 2005 [385] | 2.6.14.7 [386] | January 2006 [386] | Named Affluent Albatross [388] | ||
2.6.13 | 28 August 2005 [389] | 2.6.13.5 [390] | December 2005 [390] | Named Woozy Numbat [391] [392] | ||
2.6.12 | 18 June 2005 [393] | 2.6.12.6 [394] [395] | August 2005 [394] | |||
2.6.11 | 2 March 2005 [396] | 2.6.11.12 [397] | June 2005 [397] | |||
2.6.10 | 24 December 2004 [398] |
|
||||
2.6.9 | 19 October 2004 [400] | |||||
2.6.8 | 14 August 2004 [401] | |||||
2.6.7 | 16 June 2004 [402] | |||||
2.6.6 | 10 May 2004 [403] | |||||
2.6.5 | 4 April 2004 [405] | |||||
2.6.4 | 11 March 2004 [407] | |||||
2.6.3 | 18 February 2004 [409] |
|
||||
2.6.2 | 4 February 2004 [411] | |||||
2.6.1 | 9 January 2004 [413] | |||||
2.6 | 17 December 2003 [415] | Linus Torvalds | December 2004 [416] |
|
2.6.2–2.6.4 was named Feisty
Dunnart
[419] 2.6.5–2.6.9 was named Zonked Quokka [420]2.6.9: RHEL 4.x The 2.5 kernels were development kernels [421] | |
Legend: Old version |
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.4 | 4 January 2001 [422] | 2.4.37.11 [423] | Willy Tarreau (formerly Marcelo Tosatti) | December 2011 [423] | Named Greased
Turkey
[428] Last stable release of the 2.4 kernel series. The 2.3 kernels were development kernels
[421] | |
2.2 | 26 January 1999 [430] | 2.2.26 [431] | Marc-Christian Petersen (formerly Alan Cox) [432] | Made unofficially obsolete with the 2.2.27-rc2 [433] [434] | The 2.1 kernels were development kernels [421] | |
2.0 | 9 June 1996 [438] | 2.0.40 [439] | David Weinehall | officially made obsolete with the kernel 2.2.0 release [440] |
|
Larry Ewing created the Tux mascot in 1996 |
1.3 | 12 June 1995 | 1.3.100 [442] | Linus Torvalds | EOL |
|
Greased Weasel [446] |
1.2 | 7 March 1995 | 1.2.13 | Linux '95 [447] | |||
1.1 | 6 April 1994 | 1.1.95 | ||||
1.0 | 14 March 1994 | 1.0.9 |
|
|||
0.99 | 13 December 1992 | 0.99.15j [451] | The Linux 0.99 tar.bz2 archive grew from 426 kB to 1009 kB on the way to 1.0. | |||
0.98 | 29 September 1992 | 0.98.6 [454] | ||||
0.97 | 1 August 1992 | 0.97.6 [456] | ||||
0.96 | 22 May 1992 | 0.96c.2 [460] | ||||
0.95 | 8 March 1992 | 0.95c+ [462] | Jump from 0.12 to 0.95 [465] | |||
0.12 | 15 January 1992 | |||||
0.11 | 8 December 1991 |
|
First kernel where other people start making real contributions [467] | |||
0.10 | November 1991 | Jump from 0.03 to 0.10
First release where Minix isn't needed anymore [469] | ||||
0.03 | October 1991 [469] |
|
||||
0.02 | 5 October 1991 |
|
First "usable" release; for wider distribution [470] | |||
0.01 | 17 September 1991 | |||||
Legend: Old version |
The 3.4.113 version of the Linux kernel has been finished in Oct 26, 2016 and it's currently marked as EOL (End of Life) version.
{{
cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
The original 'containers' name was considered to be too generic – this code is an important part of a container solution, but it's far from the whole thing. So containers have now been renamed 'control groups' (or 'cgroups') and merged for 2.6.24.