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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6.10 | 7 July 2024 or later[1][3] | Linus Torvalds[1] | ||||
6.9 | 12 May 2024[1] | 6.9.4[4] ![]() |
Linus Torvalds |
| ||
6.8 | 10 March 2024[1] | 6.8.12[6] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin | 30 May 2024[7] | ||
6.7 | 8 January 2024[1] | 6.7.12[6] | 3 April 2024 |
|
According to Linus Torvalds, "one of the largest kernel releases we've ever had"[8] | |
6.6 | 30 October 2023[1] | 6.6.32[6] | 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[6] | 28 November 2023[11] | |||
6.4 | 25 June 2023[1] | 6.4.16[6] | 13 September 2023[12] |
|
||
6.3 | 23 April 2023[1] | 6.3.13[6] | 11 July 2023[16] |
|
||
6.2 | 19 February 2023[1] | 6.2.16[6] | 17 May 2023[17] |
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||
6.1 | 11 December 2022[18] | 6.1.92[6]
6.1.90-cip20[19] |
December 2026[1]
August 2033[20] |
|
23rd LTS release Used in Debian 12 "Bookworm"[25] 4th SLTS release (which CIP[26] is planning[20] to support until August 2033) 6.1.28 is named Curry Ramen[27] | |
6.0 | 2 October 2022[28] | 6.0.19[29] | January 2023[29] | Named "Hurr durr I'ma [sic] ninja sloth"[32] | ||
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[33] | 5.19.17[34] | Linus Torvalds | October 2022[34] |
|
|
5.18 | 22 May 2022[38] | 5.18.19[39] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] | August 2022[39] | ||
5.17 | 20 March 2022[47] | 5.17.15[48] | June 2022[48] | Used in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on newer hardware[55]
Named Superb Owl[56] | ||
5.16 | 9 January 2022[57] | 5.16.20[58] | April 2022[58] | |||
5.15 | 31 October 2021[63] | 5.15.160[6] | October 2026[1] | 22nd LTS release; used in
Named Trick or Treat[69] | ||
5.14 | 29 August 2021[70] | 5.14.21[71] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2021[71] | Used in RHEL 9.x and derivatives[72] (Redhat ignores LTS-Kernel, own kernel-backports) and SLE 15 SP4/openSUSE Leap 15.4 | |
5.13 | 27 June 2021[73] | 5.13.19[74] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin | September 2021[74] | Named Opossums on Parade | |
5.12 | 25 April 2021[76] | 5.12.19[77] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2021[77] | Named Frozen Wasteland[78][79] | |
5.11 | 14 February 2021[80] | 5.11.22[81] | May 2021[81] | Named "💕 Valentine's Day Edition 💕"[82] | ||
5.10 | 13 December 2020[83] | 5.10.218[6]
5.10.216-cip47[19] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] | December 2026[1][84] January 2031[20] |
21st LTS release; used in Debian 11 "Bullseye"[85]
3rd SLTS release (which CIP[86] is planning[20] to support until January 2031) Named "Dare mighty things"[87] | |
5.9 | 11 October 2020[88] | 5.9.16[89] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2020[89] | ||
5.8 | 2 August 2020[90] | 5.8.18[91] | November 2020[91] | |||
5.7 | 31 May 2020[92] | 5.7.19[93] | August 2020[93] | |||
5.6 | 29 March 2020[94] | 5.6.19[95] | June 2020[95] | |||
5.5 | 26 January 2020[96] | 5.5.19[97] | April 2020[97] | |||
5.4 | 24 November 2019[98] | 5.4.277[6] | 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[99] 5.4-rc5 is named Kleptomaniac Octopus[100] | |
5.3 | 15 September 2019[101] | 5.3.18[102] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2019[102] | ||
5.2 | 7 July 2019[103] | 5.2.20[104] | October 2019[104] | 5.2-rc2 is named Golden Lions[105][106] 5.2 is named Bobtail Squid[107] | ||
5.1 | 5 May 2019[108] | 5.1.21[109] | July 2019[109] |
|
||
5.0 | 3 March 2019[111] | 5.0.21[112] | June 2019[112] | |||
Legend: Old version Older version, still maintained |
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.20 | 23 December 2018[113] | 4.20.17[114] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | March 2019[114] | Named Shy Crocodile[115] | |
4.19 | 22 October 2018[116] | 4.19.315[6]
4.19.312-cip109[19] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] | December 2024[1][117] January 2029[20] |
19th LTS release. Used in Debian 10 "Buster".[118] Second SLTS release (which CIP is planning[20] to support until January 2029), and first with ARM64 support.[119] Named "People's Front"[120] | |
4.18 | 12 August 2018[121] | 4.18.20[122] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2018[122] | RHEL 8.x (Redhat ignores LTS-Kernel, own kernel-backports) | |
4.17 | 3 June 2018[123] | 4.17.19[124] | August 2018[124] | Named Merciless Moray[125] | ||
4.16 | 1 April 2018[126] | 4.16.18[127] | June 2018[127] | |||
4.15 | 28 January 2018[128] | 4.15.18[129] | April 2018[129] | Used in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | ||
4.14 | 12 November 2017[130] | 4.14.336[131] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] | January 2024[131] | 18th LTS release
4.14.1 is named Petit Gorille[133] | |
4.13 | 3 September 2017[134] | 4.13.16[135] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2017[135] | ||
4.12 | 2 July 2017[136] | 4.12.14[137] | September 2017[137] | |||
4.11 | 30 April 2017[139] | 4.11.12[140] | July 2017[140] | |||
4.10 | 19 February 2017[141] | 4.10.17[142] | May 2017[142] | 4.10-rc5 was named Anniversary Edition[143] | ||
4.9 | 11 December 2016[145] | 4.9.337[6] | Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] | January 2023[1][146] | 17th LTS release. Used in Debian 9 "Stretch".[147] Named Roaring Lionus[148][149] | |
4.8 | 25 September 2016[150] | 4.8.17[151] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2017[151] | ||
4.7 | 24 July 2016[152] | 4.7.10[153] | October 2016[153] | Named Psychotic Stoned Sheep[154] | ||
4.6 | 15 May 2016[155] | 4.6.7[156] | August 2016[156] | Named Charred Weasel[157] | ||
4.5 | 13 March 2016[158] | 4.5.7[159] | June 2016[160] | |||
4.4 | 10 January 2016[161] | 4.4.302[162] 4.4.302-cip87[163] |
Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin[1] (until February 2022[162]) Nobuhiro Iwamatsu & Pavel Machek[20] |
January 2027[20] | 16th LTS release, used in Slackware 14.2.[164] Canonical provided extended support until April 2021.[165] 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[166] | 4.3.6[167] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | February 2016[168] | Named Blurry Fish Butt[169][170] | |
4.2 | 30 August 2015[171] | 4.2.8[172] | December 2015[172] | Canonical provided extended support until July 2016.[173][174] | ||
4.1 | 22 June 2015[175] | 4.1.52[176] | Sasha Levin[1][177] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman)[178] | May 2018[176] | 15th LTS release. 4.1.1 was named Series 4800[179] | |
4.0 | 12 April 2015[180] | 4.0.9[181] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2015[182] |
|
Named "Hurr durr I'ma [sic] sheep"[184] (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.[185]
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3.19 | 8 February 2015[186] | 3.19.8[187] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2015[187] | Canonical provided extended support until July 2016.[173][188] | |
3.18 | 7 December 2014[189] | 3.18.140[190] | Greg Kroah-Hartman[191] (formerly Sasha Levin[192]) (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | January 2017[193] | 14th LTS release, named Diseased Newt[194] Hartman stated that he will release irregular updates to the 3.18 tree.[195] Starting with 3.18.140, this version will no longer be maintained on kernel.org, but on AOSP | |
3.17 | 5 October 2014[196] | 3.17.8[197] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2015[197] | ||
3.16 | 3 August 2014[198] | 3.16.85[199] | Ben Hutchings[1][200] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | Maintained until October 2014, then May 2016 to June 2020[199][1][201] | 13th LTS release. Was used in Debian 8 "Jessie".[202] Canonical provided extended support until April 2016.[173][203]
3.16.1 was named Museum of Fishiegoodies[204] | |
3.15 | 8 June 2014[205] | 3.15.10[206] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | August 2014[206] | ||
3.14 | 30 March 2014[208] | 3.14.79[209] | Greg Kroah-Hartman[1] | August 2016[209] | 12th LTS release, named Shuffling Zombie Juror[211] | |
3.13 | 19 January 2014[212] | 3.13.11[213] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | April 2014[213] | Canonical provided extended support until April 2016.[173][214] Named One Giant Leap for Frogkind[215] (NASA LADEE launch photo)[216] Used in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | |
3.12 | 3 November 2013[217] | 3.12.74[218] | Jiří Slabý[1][219] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | May 2017[219][218] | 11th LTS release, named Suicidal Squirrel[220] | |
3.11 | 2 September 2013[221] | 3.11.10[222] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2013[222] | Canonical provided extended support until August 2014.[173] Named Linux for Workgroups after the 20 years of Windows 3.11[224] | |
3.10 | 30 June 2013[225] | 3.10.108[226] | Willy Tarreau[1][227] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | November 2017[226] | 10th LTS release, 3.10.6 was named TOSSUG Baby Fish[229][230][231] used in Slackware 14.1[232] RHEL 7.x | |
3.9 | 28 April 2013[233] | 3.9.11[234] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2013[234] | 3.9.6 was named Black Squirrel Wakeup Call[236] | |
3.8 | 18 February 2013[237] | 3.8.13[238] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2013[238] | Canonical provided extended support until August 2014.[173][241] Named Unicycling Gorilla[242][243] | |
3.7 | 10 December 2012[245] | 3.7.10[246] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | March 2013[246][247] | Named Terrified Chipmunk[249][250] | |
3.6 | 30 September 2012[251] | 3.6.11[252] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | December 2012[252] |
| |
3.5 | 21 July 2012[254] | 3.5.7[255] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | October 2012[255] | Canonical provided extended support until April 2014.[173][256] | |
3.4 | 20 May 2012[257][258] | 3.4.113[259] | Li Zefan[1][260] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | October 2016[261] | 9th LTS release | |
3.3 | 18 March 2012[262] | 3.3.8[263] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | June 2012[263] | ||
3.2 | 4 January 2012[264] | 3.2.102[265] | Ben Hutchings[1][266] | May 2018[267] | 8th LTS release, used in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS[268] and optionally in 12.04 ESM,[269] Debian 7 "Wheezy" and Slackware 14.0.[1][266] Canonical promised to (at least) provide long-term support until April 2017;[173] Support has continued for months after. | |
3.1 | 24 October 2011[271] | 3.1.10[272] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | January 2012[272] | 3.1 provided the base for real-time tree. 3.1-rc2 was named Wet Seal 3.1 was named Divemaster Edition[273] (Linus' diving activities) | |
3.0 | 21 July 2011[185] | 3.0.101[274] | Greg Kroah-Hartman[275] | October 2013[274][275] | 7th LTS release Named Sneaky Weasel[277][278] | |
Legend: Old version |
Versions 2.6.16 and 2.6.27 of the Linux kernel were unofficially given long-term support (LTS),[279] before a 2011 working group in the Linux Foundation started a formal long-term support initiative.[280][281]
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.6.39 | 18 May 2011[282] | 2.6.39.4[283] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | August 2011[283] | Last stable release of the 2.6 kernel series | |
2.6.38 | 14 March 2011[284] | 2.6.38.8[285] | June 2011[285] | Named Flesh-Eating Bats with Fangs[286] | ||
2.6.37 | 4 January 2011[287] | 2.6.37.6[288] | March 2011[288] | |||
2.6.36 | 20 October 2010[289] | 2.6.36.4[290] | February 2011[290] | |||
2.6.35 | 1 August 2010[291] | 2.6.35.14[292] | Andi Kleen[293] | March 2012[293] | 6th LTS release 2.6.35.7 was named Yokohama | |
2.6.34 | 16 May 2010[294] | 2.6.34.15[295] | Paul Gortmaker[296] | February 2014[295][296] | 5th LTS release It was named Sheep on Meth[297][298] | |
2.6.33 | 24 February 2010[299] | 2.6.33.20[300] | Greg Kroah-Hartman[301] | November 2011[300] | 4th LTS release. It was the base for real-time-tree, replaced by 3.0.x.[301] | |
2.6.32 | 2 December 2009[303] | 2.6.32.71[304] | Willy Tarreau[1][305] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman)[306][307] | March 2016[1] | 3rd LTS release, used in Debian 6 Squeeze.[309] Canonical also provided support until April 2015.[173]
RHEL 6.x | |
2.6.31 | 9 September 2009[310] | 2.6.31.14[311] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | July 2010[311] | ||
2.6.30 | 9 June 2009[313] | 2.6.30.9[314] | October 2009[314] | 2.6.30-rc4–2.6.30-rc6 was named
Vindictive Armadillo[315][316] | ||
2.6.29 | 23 March 2009[318] | 2.6.29.6[319] | July 2009[319] | Named Temporary Tasmanian Devil[321][322] | ||
2.6.28 | 24 December 2008[323] | 2.6.28.10[324] | May 2009[324] | 2.6.28-rc1–2.6.28-rc6 was named Killer Bat of Doom[326][327] | ||
2.6.27 | 9 October 2008[329] | 2.6.27.62[330] | Willy Tarreau[331] (formerly Adrian Bunk,[332] and formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman) | March 2012[332] | 2nd LTS release 2.6.27.3 was named Trembling Tortoise[333] | |
2.6.26 | 13 July 2008[334] | 2.6.26.8[335] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | November 2008[335] | 2.6.26–2.6.27 was named Rotary Wombat[336] | |
2.6.25 | 16 April 2008[337] | 2.6.25.20[338] | November 2008[338] | Named Funky Weasel is Jiggy wit it[339] | ||
2.6.24 | 24 January 2008[340] | 2.6.24.7[341] | May 2008[341] | 2.6.23-rc4–2.6.23-rc6 was named Pink Farting Weasel[343] 2.6.23-rc7–2.6.23–2.6.24 was named Arr Matey! A Hairy Bilge Rat![344] (TLAPD 2007) | ||
2.6.23 | 9 October 2007[346] | 2.6.23.17[347] | February 2008[347] | |||
2.6.22 | 8 July 2007[349] | 2.6.22.19[350] | February 2008[350] | 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![352] | ||
2.6.21 | 25 April 2007[353] | 2.6.21.7[354] | August 2007[354] | Named Nocturnal Monster Puppy[356] | ||
2.6.20 | 4 February 2007[357] | 2.6.20.21[358] | October 2007[358] | Named Homicidal Dwarf Hamster[360][361] | ||
2.6.19 | 29 November 2006[362] | 2.6.19.7[363] | March 2007[363] | Named Avast! A bilge rat! (TLAPD 2006)[367] | ||
2.6.18 | 20 September 2006[368] | 2.6.18.8[369] | February 2007[369]
2.6.18: RHEL 5.x |
|||
2.6.17 | 17 June 2006[371] | 2.6.17.14[372] | October 2006[372] | 2.6.17-rc5 was named Lordi Rules[374] (Eurovision 2006 winners)[375] 2.6.17-rc6–2.6.17 was named Crazed Snow-Weasel[376] | ||
2.6.16 | 20 March 2006[377] | 2.6.16.62[378] | Adrian Bunk[379] (formerly Greg Kroah-Hartman)[306] | July 2008[380][378] | 1st LTS release 2.6.16.28-rc2 was named Stable Penguin | |
2.6.15 | 2 January 2006[382] | 2.6.15.7[383] | Greg Kroah-Hartman | May 2006[383] |
|
Named Sliding Snow Leopard[385] |
2.6.14 | 27 October 2005[386] | 2.6.14.7[387] | January 2006[387] | Named Affluent Albatross[389] | ||
2.6.13 | 28 August 2005[390] | 2.6.13.5[391] | December 2005[391] | Named Woozy Numbat[392][393] | ||
2.6.12 | 18 June 2005[394] | 2.6.12.6[395][396] | August 2005[395] | |||
2.6.11 | 2 March 2005[397] | 2.6.11.12[398] | June 2005[398] | |||
2.6.10 | 24 December 2004[399] |
|
||||
2.6.9 | 19 October 2004[401] | |||||
2.6.8 | 14 August 2004[402] | |||||
2.6.7 | 16 June 2004[403] | |||||
2.6.6 | 10 May 2004[404] | |||||
2.6.5 | 4 April 2004[406] | |||||
2.6.4 | 11 March 2004[408] | |||||
2.6.3 | 18 February 2004[410] |
|
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2.6.2 | 4 February 2004[412] | |||||
2.6.1 | 9 January 2004[414] | |||||
2.6 | 17 December 2003[416] | Linus Torvalds | December 2004[417] | 2.6.2–2.6.4 was named Feisty Dunnart[420] 2.6.5–2.6.9 was named Zonked Quokka[421]2.6.9: RHEL 4.x The 2.5 kernels were development kernels[422] | ||
Legend: Old version |
Version | Original release date | Last release | Maintainer | EOL | Prominent features | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.4 | 4 January 2001[423] | 2.4.37.11[424] | Willy Tarreau (formerly Marcelo Tosatti) | December 2011[424] | Named Greased Turkey[429] Last stable release of the 2.4 kernel series. The 2.3 kernels were development kernels[422] | |
2.2 | 26 January 1999[431] | 2.2.26[432] | Marc-Christian Petersen (formerly Alan Cox)[433] | Made unofficially obsolete with the 2.2.27-rc2[434][435] | The 2.1 kernels were development kernels[422] | |
2.0 | 9 June 1996[439] | 2.0.40[440] | David Weinehall | officially made obsolete with the kernel 2.2.0 release[441] |
|
Larry Ewing created the Tux mascot ![]() |
1.3 | 12 June 1995 | 1.3.100[443] | Linus Torvalds | EOL |
|
Greased Weasel[447] |
1.2 | 7 March 1995 | 1.2.13 | Linux '95[448] | |||
1.1 | 6 April 1994 | 1.1.95 | ||||
1.0 | 14 March 1994 | 1.0.9 |
|
|||
0.99 | 13 December 1992 | 0.99.15j[452] | 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[455] | ||||
0.97 | 1 August 1992 | 0.97.6[457] | ||||
0.96 | 22 May 1992 | 0.96c.2[461] | ||||
0.95 | 8 March 1992 | 0.95c+[463] | Jump from 0.12 to 0.95[466] | |||
0.12 | 15 January 1992 | |||||
0.11 | 8 December 1991 |
|
First kernel where other people start making real contributions[468] | |||
0.10 | November 1991 | Jump from 0.03 to 0.10
First release where Minix isn't needed anymore[470] | ||||
0.03 | October 1991[470] |
|
||||
0.02 | 5 October 1991 |
|
First "usable" release; for wider distribution[471] | |||
0.01 | 17 September 1991 | |||||
Legend: Old version |