#Get linux kernel version install#
#Get linux kernel version Patch#
#Get linux kernel version series#

Recent editions of the Linux kernel have reverted to a variant of the version used between 1.0 and 2.4. If you think this sounds unnecessarily complicated, it is, and this versioning system was dropped with version 2.6, which itself was around for an epic eight year period between 20.

#Get linux kernel version Patch#

The version number 2.4.27.10 would tell you that its the 10th patch to the 27th revision of the fourth minor version of the second major kernel release. To make things more complicated, a fourth digit set was introduced starting with version 2.4, indicating the patch version of the kernel. Odd numbers, like.2.1, indicate development or unstable releases, and odd number, eg: 2.4 are stable. The last digit, “9”, shows the revision version.īetween Kernel versions 2.0 and 2.6, Linux adopted an odd/even release scheme for minor versions. The second digit, “0” is the minor version, meaning that some features have been added or changed, but it’s not completely different from any other kernel in the “ 1” range.

#Get linux kernel version series#

Taking kernel version 1.0.9 as an example, the “1” indicates the major version – it’s a huge difference from the “0” series kernels. During this period there was no release schedule, and version numbers jumped and skipped arbitrarily without explanation.Īfter version 0.95, Linux adopted Semantic versioning along with indicators of whether the change was major or minor. Version 0.01 was released in 1991 and progressed at irregular intervals until release 1.0.

Unless you’ve uncovered an ancient x286 machine in your loft, only the most recent one is likely to really matter to you. Use the cat command to see its contents: cat /proc/version How Linux Kernels Are Numberedĭepending on how far back in time you want to travel, the Linux kernel numbering system can be quite confusing, as there have been multiple different schemes over the years. The version file relates, as you might imagine, to kernel version information. Find Your Linux Kernel Version in the Virtual Filesystem cat /proc/versionĮverything’s a file on Linux, and everything to do with the kernel currently in memory is kept it the /proc directory. You’ll see multiple lines of output, with your kernel version on the first line. Running the command on its own will generate a landslide of information, but fortunately, you can use grep to search through it for your Linux kernel version.Įnter the following command in your Linux terminal: sudo dmesg | grep Linux The Linux kernel generates logs for everything it does, and dmesg is a tool you can use to access the kernel log. To use Neofetch to see the kernel version without ancillary information, enter: neofetch kernel Find Your Linux Kernel Version With Dmesg and Grep sudo dmesg | grep Linux You’ll see a wealth of information including hostname, OS version, screen resolution, your distro logo, and, of course the kernel version.

#Get linux kernel version install#

Or for the Fedora family: sudo dnf install neofetch You can install it on Debian-based systems with: sudo apt install neofetch

Neofetch is a fast, highly customizable system info script utility, and is the most stylish way of grabbing your kernel version info, along with a lot of other information. Will show you the kernel version Find Your Linux Kernel Version With Neofetch neofetch Entering it without options will tell you that you’re using Linux.Īdding the “ -r” switch will print the kernel release as standard output. The system command, uname, is used to print system information to the terminal. Find Your Linux Kernel Version With Uname Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or by selecting it from your system menu. You can find out which kernel version you have using the terminal. This can help you to diagnose problems, and help you find out if there are performance gains to be made by switching kernel. It’s always a good idea to know which Linux kernel you’re running.