12 January 2012, 13:16

Linux kernel exceeds 15 million lines of code

Kernel Log Penguin The upcoming 3.3 release of the Linux kernel will be the first to contain more than 15 million lines of kernel source code – the milestone includes the comments, blank lines, documentation, scripts and userland tools included with the kernel. Three quarters of the lines are drivers, filesystems and architecture-specific code. A detailed analysis of the kernel sources can be found in the current Kernel Log. The kernel hit the 10 million line mark in October 2008.

Kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced that Linux 3.0, which had been designated as a stable kernel, will be promoted to long-term kernel status and supported for at least two years – the developers typically only support the current kernel until a short time after the release of its successor. Support for a specific version of Linux can also vary depending on how widely it is used. Linux 2.6.32, for example, is used in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL6) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SLES11).

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