this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2026
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Something good coming out of AI, it seems.

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[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Linux versioning does not work like that. There is no major release, the are all equivalent. It's not a joke, Linus Torvalds just don't want high numbers, so at the latest .20 (dot-twenty) release they create a new major one. But functionally it doesn't matter. Therefore the release version is meaningless for our discussion. I'm really serious about this, this is not in any way trolling or being toxic. All we need for this discussion are already present in the graph.

Have a look at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel_version_history

In contrast to semantic versioning, the major version carries no intrinsic meaning for the kernel, as Linux promises stable interfaces and behavior even when the major version changes. However, since version 3.x, minor versions have been capped around 20 to avoid the false perception that changes between large minor versions (e.g. from 5.30 to 5.31) would be less voluminous or impactful than changes between smaller minor versions (e.g. from 6.1 to 6.2).

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Yes, I'm seeing that now, thank you. Makes sense.