Linux Kernel Versions

The Linux core is in a constant state of development and expansion. This article will provide an overview of the most important changes to the respective versions of the core.

Linux Kernel 5.x

Kernel 5.4

most important new features of Kernel 5.4	more information
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Kernel 5.3

most important new features of Kernel 5.3	more information
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Kernel 5.2

most important new features of Kernel 5.2	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 5.1

most important new features of Kernel 5.1	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 5.0

most important new features of Kernel 5.0	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Linux Kernel 4.x

Kernel 4.20

most important new features of Kernel 4.20	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.19

most important new features of Kernel 4.19	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.18

most important new features of Kernel 4.18	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.17

most important new features of Kernel 4.17	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.16

most important new features of Kernel 4.16	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.15

most important new features of Kernel 4.15	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.14

most important new features of Kernel 4.14	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.13

most important new features of Kernel 4.13	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 4.12

most important new features of Kernel 4.12	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Linux Kernel 3.x

Kernel 3.11

most important new features of Kernel 3.11	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.10

most important new features of Kernel 3.10	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.9

most important new features of Kernel 3.9	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.8

most important new features of Kernel 3.8	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.7

most important new features of Kernel 3.7	more information
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Kernel 3.6

most important new features of Kernel 3.6	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.5

most important new features of Kernel 3.5	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.4

most important new features of Kernel 3.4	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.3

most important new features of Kernel 3.3	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.2

most important new features of Kernel 3.2	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.1

most important new features of Kernel 3.1	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 3.0

most important new features of Kernel 3.0	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Linux Kernel 2.x

Kernel 2.6.39

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.39	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.38

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.38	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.37

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.37	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.36

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.36	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.35

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.35	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.34

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.34	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.33

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.33	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Kernel 2.6.32

most important new features of Kernel 2.6.32	more information
{{{new features}}}	Heise Kernel Log kernelnewbies.org Release: {{{date}}}

Older Versions

Kernel Version	Most Important Changes	Additional Information
2.6.31	New WLAN drivers IEEE 802.15.4 (Wireless Personal Area Network) Kernel-based mode setting for Radeon Btrfs updates Ext4 online defragmentation USB 3.0 support	heise.de kernelnewbies.org heise.de Preview 1/5 heise.de Preview 2/5 heise.de Preview 3/5 heise.de Preview 4/5 heise.de Preview 5/5
2.6.30	Ext4 Updates (protection against data loss during delayed allocation) New drivers for audio, video and USB hardware Fastboot for reducing kernel boot time I2C and hardware monitoring updates Notebooks: new dell-wmi driver, updates for Sony laptops and Thinkpad acpi relatime Default option for file systems (instead of atime)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org Kernel Log Lecture from LinuxTag 2009, Slideshow
2.6.29	File system updates (Btrfs, Ext4 no journal mode) Kernel mode setting (framework for controlling graphics hardware) Wireless Access Point mode support Wimax support	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.28	Ext4 file system – now considered stable in the kernel Improvement of kernel memory management scalability Disk shock protection for hard disks	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.27	Reworked WLAN drivers The gspca webcam driver	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.26	New and reworked WLAN drivers PCI Express Active State Power Management (ASPM) power-saving technology The KGDB kernel debugger	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.25	New and reworked WLAN drivers Optimizations of the Ext4 file system and the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) The SMACK (Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel) security framework	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.24	Seven new WLAN drivers Changes to the CFS scheduler Tickless support for x86-64, PPC, UML, ARM, MIPS SATA (libata) Link power management infrastructure: Device Initiated Power Management (DIPM)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.23	The Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) (process scheduler) Xen DomU support (based on paravirt_ops) Lguest (was originally Lguest for test purposes only, intended for paravit_ops-programming)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.22	New WLAN stack New Firewire stack Support for an additional CPU architecture: Analog Devices Blackfin	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.21	High resolution timers Improvements to Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) including: initial para-virtualization support, live migration, CPU hot-plugging support Virtual Machine Interface (VMI) (based on paravirt_ops), contributed by VMware A reworked ACPI subsystem	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.20	The paravirt_ops virtualization interface Virtualization Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) Expansion of the PowerPC & Cell architectures for Playstation 3 IO accounting (makes the use of iotop possible) Fault injection makes it possible for kernel developers to test how their code reacts to errors (kmalloc() failures, alloc_pages() failures, disk IO errors and similar errors can be simulated.)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.19	The Ext4 file system (experimental) The GFS2 file system The eCryptfs file system libata PATA (Parallel ATA)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org
2.6.18	libata (SATA) Update CFQ is now the default IO scheduler (was already the default in many distrubiton systems like RHEL4)	heise.de kernelnewbies.org

Additional Information

• Kernel Log (heise.de)
• Linux Weather Forecast (Linux Foundation)
• Linux Weekly News (lwn.net)
• Version History of the Linux Kernel as of version 2.6 (en.wikipedia.org)