Because there are numerous revisions and releases of the Linux kernel and new ones are developed at frequent intervals, it is important to have a system for clearly identifying them.

A kernel is a program that constitutes the central core of a computer operating system and which has complete control over everything that occurs in the system. The Linux kernel was originally developed by Linus Torvalds, who based it on (but did not copy) both UNIX and MINIX (an open source clone of UNIX).

The initial Linux kernels had a very simple numbering system. The first, which was released by Torvalds in September 1991, was designated 0.01. This was followed the next month by the 0.02 kernel. The current version numbering system began with the kernel 1.0, which was released in March 1994.

Linux kernels are now identified by a set of four numbers, sometimes supplemented by several additional characters. The first number denotes the kernelversion. It is changed least frequently, and only when truly major changes in the concept and the code of the kernel occur. In fact, it has been changed only twice in the history of the kernel: in 1994 with version 1.0 and in 1996 with version 2.0.

The second number denotes the major revision of the kernel version. It was formerly the case that even numbers indicated a stable release, that is, one that was deemed fit for production use (i.e., use in a non-experimental environment), such as 1.2, 2.4 or 2.6. Likewise, odd numbers, such as 1.1 or 2.5, have historically represented development releases. They were for testing new features and device drivers until they became sufficiently stable to be included in a stable release. However, this has changed starting with the Linux 2.6.x series, and new feature development now takes place in the same revision number.

The third number indicates the minor revision of the kernel. It is only changed when new features or new drivers are added. The fourth number represents corrections, such as security patches and bug (i.e., error) fixes.

Sometimes the four numbers will be followed by several letters, such as rc1acck and mm. The letters rc (followed by a number) refer to a release candidateand thus indicate a non-official release. Other letters usually indicate the person responsible for that release, such as Alan Cox, Con Kolivas and Andrew Morton.

As of May 29, 2006 the newest release was 2.6.16.18, which was released on May 22. This superseded 2.6.16.17, which was released on May 20. The first version of the 2.6 kernel, 2.6.0, was released on December 18, 2003, and the current 2.6.16 minor revision was released on March 20, 2006.

There are several ways to determine which release of the kernel is being used on any particular system. Perhaps the easiest is to use the uname command(which reports basic information about a system's hardware and software) with its -r option, that is,

uname -r

 

Linux Kernel Version Numbering的更多相关文章

  1. 各个安卓版本 使用的 Linux Kernel Version

    Android Version |API Level |Linux Kernel in AOSP --------------------------------------------------- ...

  2. Linux kernel version dirty

    在我们使用git来管理Linux Kernel的时候,在编译的时候会在你的kernel version加上git commit number 有时候还会出现dirty字样,字面意思是内核被污染的意思. ...

  3. Understanding Linux Kernel version 3 读书笔记

    P30, preemptive  kernel .kernel threading 和Multithreaded application support没太好理解,我想如果设计个多线程的程序来运行运行 ...

  4. Linux kernel Wikipedia

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel Development model The current development model of the Lin ...

  5. Linux Kernel: buffers和cached的区别

    The page cache caches pages of files to optimize file I/O. The buffer cache caches disk blocks to op ...

  6. 【嵌入式开发】 Linux Kernel 下载 配置 编译 安装 及 驱动简介

    作者 : 韩曙亮 转载请出名出处 : http://blog.csdn.net/shulianghan/article/details/38636827 一. Linux 内核简介 1. 内核功能简介 ...

  7. 转 Comparison of Red Hat and Oracle Linux kernel versions and release strings

    Originally derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Oracle Linux (OL) contains minor difference ...

  8. ANALYSIS AND EXPLOITATION OF A LINUX KERNEL VULNERABILITY (CVE-2016-0728)

    ANALYSIS AND EXPLOITATION OF A LINUX KERNEL VULNERABILITY (CVE-2016-0728) By Perception Point Resear ...

  9. How to: Compile Linux kernel 2.6

      Compiling custom kernel has its own advantages and disadvantages. However, new Linux user / admin ...

随机推荐

  1. 运用C#生成docx格式的报表

    这几天在北京做一个大桥的监测系统的项目,涉及到一个功能,那就是采集数据,处理后,希望能自动生成一个报表,只需要在一个模板的基础上加几个数就可以了,但因为希望生成的是.docx格式的word2007/2 ...

  2. Xcode代码提示联想功能失效,按command键点不进去类库,提示“?”

    参考文档:这两篇文章很好的解决了问题.可以很好的解决了问题 Xcode代码提示联想功能失效,按command键点不进去类库,提示“?”,代码全是白色 Xcode4中代码补全(Code Completi ...

  3. 用Git导出项目

    Git没有SVN的导出功能,不能像 svn export url 那样,将某个版本的代码导出为不带版本控制文件的文件夹.   Git提供了archive命令,可以把版本的文件流导出.   可以将Git ...

  4. How can I view currently running MySQL queries?( 查看正在运行的MySQL语句/脚本命令)

    show processlist;show processlist\G;SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST;SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST\G; REF:http://dev.my ...

  5. Hosts文件的使用

    hosts文件是什么?在哪里?hosts文件:系统文件,可以记事本打开并编辑.一般用于域名到ip地址的解析.当用户在浏览器中输入网络的域名时,系统首先会自动从hosts文件中找到对应的ip地址,一旦找 ...

  6. iPhone6搜索如何打开?详细使用方法

    iphone6搜索功能在哪?怎么用呢?当iPhone6中安装了太多的应用或者联系人太多时,我们就可以使用iPhone6搜索功能就能快速找到,但是还有很多朋友对于iphone6搜索功能在哪,怎么用还不太 ...

  7. window打开服务的dos命令

    window打开服务的dos命令   “开始”---> “运行”输入以下命令,或者Win + R,输入以下命令 对我比较有用的几个: 10. notepad--------打开记事本  31. ...

  8. 火狐浏览器Firefox上DownThemAll插件

    DownThemAll插件支持断点续传.多线程下载,可以大幅度提高下载速度. 在Windows平台上,要下载大量的文件,迅雷自然是首选:但在非Windows平台上,只要安装一个火狐浏览器,再安装Dow ...

  9. centos 安装php5.6

    检查当前安装包 yum list installed | grep php 删除当前安装包 yum remove php.i686 php-bcmath.i686 php-cli.i686 php-c ...

  10. C#日常总结1

    Rows:行的集合: Columns:列的集合: Gridview:用来显示数据的表格{ //设置 AutoGenerateColumns="false":表示不允许自动产生列,列 ...