This article documents the version history of the Linux kernel, a free, open-source, and Unix-like kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide.
Since the Linux kernel's creation by Linus Torvalds in 1991, it grew rapidly as many developers contributed to the project.
The kernel became self-hosting as of version 0.11 in December 1991. Linux 1.0.0 was released in March 1994, consisting of over 170,000 lines of source code.
The most recent stable release of the Linux kernel is , released on .
In contrast to semantic versioning, the major version carries no intrinsic meaning for the kernel, as Linux promises stable interfaces and behavior even across major versions. Rather, since version 3.x, minor versions are capped around 20, to avoid the false perception that changes between large minor versions (e.g. from X.30 to X.31) would be smaller than changes between X.1 and X.2.
Each feature release identified by the first two numbers of a release version is designated one of the following levels of support:
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On February 8 2026 Linus Torvalds announced that the next kernel release will be published as version 7.0. Considering the usual release cycle of about two months for every new version, kernel 7.0 is expected to be released in April 2026.
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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.
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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.
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