The first thing we should know is that when we talk about Linux, we must differentiate between two concepts. The first is the kernel, the second is the distributions. The development of each of these concepts is completely independent of the other.
Linux Kernel is the kernel From the operating system, although in itself it is not very useful. Inside it are protocols, drivers, memory managers and other items, but it cannot function alone as an operating system as such. That is why, to be of use, it is necessary to provide it with a shell, compilers, libraries, desktop, etc., and that’s what they do Distributions.
The latest version of Linux
Although the first version of Linux (0.x) saw the light of day in 1991, and has received billions of changes and improvements in its 21 years of life, only 5 release changes have been published. So, the latest available version is 5.x (released in 2019). Specifically, as of August 2022, the latest available subversion of this kernel is Linux 5.19.
It is rumored that with the release of the next version of Linux, 5.20, Linus Torvalds could revive a new version of the kernel, 6.0. This rumor makes sense given that it’s similar to the one he already made with 4x, the last of which was 4.20, and instead of giving life to 4.21, the current Linux 5.x has arrived.
The latest releases of major distributions
When we want to install Linux, what we are looking for is to install a distro. As we have already explained, it is built from the Kernel and on it, a series of components are configured to be able to make up the operating system. Linux distro designers can choose between creating a distro that is as complete as possible, with packages and programs, to ease the learning curve, or creating a simple system that each user can customize.
Let’s see what are the latest releases of the 10 most popular distros as of August 2022.
- MXLinux. Based on Debian. The latest version is 21.1 which was released in April 2022 with Linux Kernel 5.10.
- Endeavor. Based on the arc. The latest version dates back to June 2022, and it comes with Linux Kernel 5.18. Since it is a rolling release, it updates the kernel automatically.
- linux mint. Based on Ubuntu. The latest version is 21, released in July 2022. It comes with 5.15 kernel.
- Manjaro Lennox. Based on the arc. The last stable version (it has continuous development) arrived in August 2022 with kernel 5.18.
- Pop! _OS. Based on Ubuntu. The latest version, 22.04, arrived in April 2022, with Linux Kernel 5.16.
- Ubuntu. Based on Debian. The latest version, 22.04, arrived in April 2022 and contains Linux Kernel 5.15.
- Fedora. independent distribution. The static branch is in version 36, which was released in May 2022 with kernel 5.17, while the ongoing development version is updated as of August 2022 with kernel 5.19.
- Debian. independent distribution. The latest stable version is 11, released in August 2021, which comes with kernel 5.10, while the rolling version is updated as of August 2022, and it loads Linux 5.18 kernel.
- Garuda Linux. Based on the arc. It has continuous development and the last release dates back to July 2022. It uses Kernel version 5.18.
- openSUSE. independent distribution. The latest stable release of this distro dates back to June 2022, and Linux Kernel 5.18 is mounting. It has a rolling development release, updated as of August 2022, with Kernel 5.18.
Whatever distro we have, it will have a specific version of the Linux kernel inside it. We can find out which version it is running on by opening Terminal and running the following command:
uname -r
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