Linux has an impressive version history. It powers millions of sites and servers worldwide. As an open-source operating system, Linux has experienced huge advancements in security, performance, and scalability over time.
This blog post will thoroughly discuss the Linux version history and the latest versions.
Who Created Linux and When Was the First Version Released?
The Linux kernel was developed by a Finnish Unix-hacker and college student named Linus Torvalds, who announced it on 25 August 1991 and then released the first version through an Internet newsgroup on 17 September.
If you mean Linux as in a distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system, the first one was called “Boot-root” and came out before 1991 was over. However, the first commercial distro released for wide distribution was Yggdrasil Linux/GNU/X on December 8, 1992.
Moreover, other people have contributed to the development of Linux. Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU, had the initial vision in 1983 of a free Unix-like operating system. X was created in 1984. Linus Torvalds completed the vision in 1991 when he wrote the kernel that GNU had been unable to produce. Tens of thousands of people have helped develop all of this.
A Glimpse of the Linux Version List
The following Linux version list includes various Linux versions released to date.
Linux 0.x (1991-1994) – The first version of Linux was launched.
Linux 1.0 (1994) – The first stable version was released.
Linux 2.0 (1996) – The second or Linux previous version comprised networking and multi-processor support.
Linux 2.4 (2001) – The version focused on security enhancements and scalability.
Linux 2.6 (2003) – This version offered virtualization alongside 64-bit support.
Linux 3.x (2011) – These versions comprised performance optimizations and kernel updates.
Linux 4.x (2015) – These Linux previous versions included Cloud and virtualization enhancements.
Linux 5.x (2019) – More features and security upgrades were added in these versions.
Linux 6.x (2022-2025) – These versions have contemporary hardware support and efficiency enhancements.
Linux Version History (Comprehensive Table)
This section will mention the Linux current version. It will also highlight the old versions of Linux. According to this section, Linux latest release is 6.15. Furthermore, this section helps you find the older versions of Linux.
Version
Release Date
Last Release
Salient Linux Features
Linux 6.15
May 25, 2025
6.15.0
It offered support for hardware-encrypted keys in the block layer.
It also provided enhanced memory management optimizations.
Users could use a new fwctl subsystem to secure RPCs with device firmware.
Linux 6.14
March 24, 2025
6.14.9
Offered a new AMDXDNA driver for AMD Ryzen AI NPUs, an NTSYNC driver for Windows NT synchronization primitives (beneficial for gaming), and Btrfs RAID1 read balancing support
Provided uncached buffered I/O
Linux 6.13
January 20, 2025
6.13.12
Enhancements in various file systems (F2FS, XFS, Btrfs, EXT4, exFAT)
Provided hardware support for AMD and Intel processors and the Rust language infrastructure.
Linux 6.12
November 17, 2024
6.12.31
Provided real-time support for x86/x86_64, RISC-V, and ARM64
Offered Userspace scheduler extensions support
Provided QR codes for DRM panic messages
Linux 6.11
September 15, 2025
6.11.11
Provided atomic writes support for buffered I/O
Offered a dedicated bucket slab allocator that helps protect against heap spraying
vDSO implementation of getrandom()
Linux 6.10
July 14, 2024
6.10.14
Memory-allocation profiling
Encrypted interactions with trusted platform modules
Linux 6.9
May 12, 2024
6.9.10
Enhanced performance for Intel Core Ultra (Meteor Lake)
Offered support for AMD P-State Preferred Cores
Intel FRED (Flexible Return Event Delivery)
Provided support for larger console frame-buffer fonts for 4K displays
Offered faster boot times for systems with lots of RAM and using Huge TLBs
Provided DM VDO (Device Mapper Virtual Data Optimizer) mainlined
Offered hibernation compression support
Linux 6.8
March 10, 2024
6.8.12
Offered enhancements to CPU and GPU drivers
Provided enhancements to file systems, security, and performance
Linux 6.7
January 08, 2024
6.7.12
Initial Bcachefs filesystem support
Itanium support was removed
Intel Meteor Lake Graphics declared stable
Initial Nouveau support for Nvidia GSP firmware
It can deactivate IA-32 support at boot time on AMD64
Expansion of AMD Seamless Boot Support
Improvements were made in the loading of x86 microcode
Provided support for RAID stripe tree, simple quota accounting, and a temporary FSID added to
JFS minor stability improvements
Linux 6.6
October 29, 2023
6.6.92
The new EEVDF process scheduler was merged, which can replace the CFS scheduler.
Intel Shadow Stack has been merged; exploiting ROPs is difficult
Provided support for Partial SMT
Performance Improvement for CPUs with a lot of cores and shared Last Level Caches
Continued Intel Meteor Lake graphics and sound enablement/improvements
Better performance for Ext4; IO_uring is also seeing cool improvements
Provided DEFLATE compression support for EROFS
Linux 6.5
August 27, 2023
6.5.13
Offered initial USB4 v2.0 support
Provided MIDI 2.0 support
Linux 6.4
June 25, 2023
6.4.16
Intel Linear Address Masking
Provided partial support for Apple M2
Offered autonomous frequency with power control on AMD Zen architecture CPUs
It offered support for RISC-V hibernation on future laptops
Improvements for LoongArch CPU architecture
Further Intel Meteor Lake Graphics development
Provided 4K resolution support for the Rockchip Direct Rendering Manager driver
Offered AMD GPU support for the Steam Deck
Optimizations to Ext4, BTrfs, F2Fs, EROFS, Btrfs, F2FS, NTFS, and Ext4
Support for Intel Lunar Lake HD Audio
Continued Wi-Fi 7 development
Further Rust upstreaming to support the first Rust drivers
Removal of SLOB memory allocator
Linux 6.3
April 23, 2023
6.3.13
Provided Initial Support for Intel Meteor Lake Display
Intel Meteor Lake VPUs (“Versatile Processing Unit”) support
AMD Automatic IBRS
The Intel TPMI driver was merged, giving more control over power management.
Big Performance Improvement for EXT4 and BTRFS
Provided IPv4 BIG TCP support for better network performance
Microsoft Hyper-V nested hypervisor support.
Faster kernel builds with lower peak memory use
Removed support for the Intel ICC compiler
Linux 6.2
February 19, 2023
6.2.16
Intel Arc drivers are now deemed “stable” by default.
Offered initial FOSS support for NVIDIA GeForce 30 Series
It offered support for Apple’s M1
Call Depth Tracking, which is a better performance alternative to IBRS for older Intel CPUs
Some power-saving improvements are made when the system is idle or lightly loaded.
It offered support for Raspberry Pi in 4K@60Hz
Suited RAID5/6 in btrfs-like systems
Linux 6.1
December 11, 2022
6.1.140
Offered support for writing kernel modules in Rust
Had Multi-Gen LRU page reclaiming (not yet enabled by default)
Offered support for AMD Navi GPUs, Zhaoxin x86 CPUs
Utilization clamping in the task scheduler
Linux 5.2
July 07, 2019
5.2.20
Sound Open Firmware (SOF), enhanced pressure stall information
New mount API
Performance improvements in the BFQ I/O scheduler
Linux 5.1
May 05, 2019
5.1.21
Provided an advanced, high-performance asynchronous I/O interface called io_uring
Improved fanotify for file system monitoring,
Persistent memory usage as RAM
Linux 5.0
March 03, 2019
5.0.21
Provided AMD FreeSync support for smoother display
Enhanced power management
Which is the Linux Latest Version?
The latest Linux Kernel version is Linux 6.15, which was released on May 25, 2025. Thus, the current or latest Linux version is Linux 6.15. As you know, the Linux history dates back to the early 90s.
What is the Future of the Linux Operating System?
The future of Linux looks promising as users can witness various engaging trends in the coming years. There has been a greater emphasis on security, usability, and containerization. As a result, Linux will continue to grow rapidly and considerably impact the technology industry.
Likewise, the Linux community will innovate by collaborating and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with open-source software. At present, users utilize 6.15, Linux current version.
Wrapping Up
We expect you to like our blog post explaining the Linux version history. All the Linux releases indicate that the popular operating system continues to grow, with continual kernel updates and widespread use in several domains, including mobile devices, embedded systems, server infrastructure, and cloud computing.
The history of Linux versions demonstrates the effectiveness of collaborative open-source development and outlines the achievement of a community-driven approach to software development. Linux history aside, the popular operating system has become a foundational component of various technological ecosystems today.
Article by
Usman Hayat
Usman Hayat is a WordPress expert with over 10 years of experience in blogging, SEO, and content marketing. He is a Business graduate and has a keen interest in social media marketing, maintaining profiles on Quora, Medium, and Reddit. He creates engaging and rankable content with a focus on providing users with custom WordPress solutions, driving business growth. He has worked in various leading companies, including WPExperts.
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