Linux Kernel 5.14
Mayank Sharma celebrates 30 years of Linux by examining its beating heart.
IN BRIEF
The Linux kernel is a free and open source modular, multitasking, monolithic Unixlike operating system kernel. It was created in 1991 for the i386 PC by Linus Torvalds who still serves as the principal developer of the mainline kernel branch. Linux serves as the kernel for hundreds of open source distributions, which have come to be colloquially referred to as Linux as well.
L inux kernel v5.14 is under development, but should be out by the time this issue lands on your desk, marking three decades of what has become the leading example for collaborative software development. From 10,000-odd lines in 1991 written by Linus Torvalds, the kernel now spans tens of millions of lines of code contributed by thousands of developers. In fact, the recent v5.13 bundled the work of 2,062 developers, making it the first release that saw the participation of over 2,000 developers in a single kernel release.