Linux kernel version history

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:

• Supported until next stable version
• Long-term support (LTS); maintained for a few years
• Super-long-term support (SLTS); maintained for many more years by the Civil Infrastructure Platform (CIP)

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.

Versions 2.6.16 and 2.6.27 of the Linux kernel were unofficially given long-term support (LTS), before a 2011 working group in the Linux Foundation started a formal long-term support initiative.

• Linux adoption
• Linux kernel
• History of Linux
• Timeline of free and open-source software

• Official Linux kernel website
• Active kernel releases, on the official Linux kernel website
• Linux versions changelog, in Linux Kernel Newbies
• Kernel coverage at LWN.net
• Linux Kernel Version History: Consolidated list at the Wayback Machine (archived 2023-04-06)