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60<div id="drawer-tux"></div></a> 61 </nav><!-- /#mobile-drawer --> 62 </header><!-- /#mobile-banner --> 63 64 65 66 <aside id="featured" class="body"> 67 <article> 68 <h1 class="entry-title"><a href="https://www.kernel.org/faq.html">Frequently asked questions</a></h1> 69<footer class="post-info"> 70 <abbr class="published" title="2024-08-06T19:40:29.037681+00:00"> 71 2024-08-06 72 </abbr> 73 74<p>In <a href="https://www.kernel.org/category/faq.html">FAQ</a>. </p> 75 76</footer><!-- /.post-info --><p>If you have questions, comments or concerns about the F.A.Q. please 77contact us at <a class="reference external" href="mailto:helpdesk@kernel.org">helpdesk@kernel.org</a>.</p> 78<div class="section" id="is-linux-kernel-free-software"> 79<h2>Is Linux Kernel Free Software?</h2> 80<p>Linux kernel is released under the terms of GNU GPL version 2 and is 81therefore Free Software as defined by the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.fsf.org/">Free Software Foundation</a>.</p> 82<p>For more information, please consult the documentation:</p> 83<ul class="simple"> 84<li><a class="reference external" href="https://docs.kernel.org/process/license-rules.html">Linux kernel licensing rules</a></li> 85</ul> 86</div> 87<div class="section" id="i-heard-that-linux-ships-with-non-free-blobs"> 88<h2>I heard that Linux ships with non-free "blobs"</h2> 89<p>Before many devices are able to communicate with the OS, they must first 90be initialized with the "firmware" provided by the device manufacturer. 91This firmware is not part of Linux and isn't "executed" by the kernel -- 92it is merely uploaded to the device during the driver initialization 93stage.</p> 94<p>While some firmware images are built from free software, a large subset 95of it is only available for redistribution in binary-only form. To 96avoid any licensing confusion, firmware blobs were moved from the main 97Linux tree into a separate repository called <a class="reference external" href="https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/">linux-firmware</a>.</p> 98<p>It is possible to use Linux without any non-free firmware binaries, but 99usually at the cost of rendering a lot of hardware inoperable. 100Furthermore, many devices that do not require a firmware blob during 101driver initialization simply already come with non-free firmware 102preinstalled on them. If your goal is to run a 100% free-as-in-freedom 103setup, you will often need to go a lot further than just avoiding 104loadable binary-only firmware blobs.</p> 105</div> 106<div class="section" id="can-i-use-the-word-linux-or-the-tux-logo"> 107<h2>Can I use the word "Linux" or the Tux logo?</h2> 108<p>Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds and its use is 109governed by the Linux Trademark Institute. Please consult the following 110page for further information:</p> 111<ul class="simple"> 112<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage/">Trademark Usage</a></li> 113</ul> 114<p>The Tux penguin logo was created by Larry Ewing using Gimp software. It 115is free to use, including commercially, as long as you give Larry Ewing 116proper credit ("if someone asks"). For any other permissions, please 117reach out to Mr. Larry Ewing directly.</p> 118</div> 119<div class="section" id="what-does-stable-eol-and-longterm-mean"> 120<h2>What does "stable/EOL" and "longterm" mean?</h2> 121<p>As kernels move from the "mainline" into the "stable" category, two 122things can happen:</p> 123<ol class="arabic simple"> 124<li>They can reach "End of Life" after a few bugfix revisions, which 125means that kernel maintainers will release no more bugfixes for this 126kernel version, or</li> 127<li>They can be put into "longterm" maintenance, which means that 128maintainers will provide bugfixes for this kernel revision for a 129much longer period of time.</li> 130</ol> 131<p>If the kernel version you are using is marked "EOL," you should consider 132upgrading to the next major version as there will be no more bugfixes 133provided for the kernel version you are using.</p> 134<p>Please check the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.kernel.org/releases.html">Releases</a> page for more info.</p> 135</div> 136<div class="section" id="why-is-an-lts-kernel-marked-as-stable-on-the-front-page"> 137<h2>Why is an LTS kernel marked as "stable" on the front page?</h2> 138<p>Long-term support ("LTS") kernels announced on the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.kernel.org/releases.html">Releases</a> page will 139be marked as "stable" on the front page if there are no other current 140stable kernel releases. This is done to avoid breaking automated parsers 141monitoring kernel.org with an expectation that there will always be a 142kernel release marked as "stable."</p> 143</div> 144<div class="section" id="linus-has-tagged-a-new-release-but-it-s-not-listed-on-the-front-page"> 145<h2>Linus has tagged a new release, but it's not listed on the front page!</h2> 146<p>Linus Torvalds PGP-signs git repository tags for all new mainline kernel 147releases, however a separate set of PGP signatures needs to be generated 148by the stable release team in order to create downloadable tarballs. Due 149to timezone differences between Linus and the members of the stable 150team, there is usually a delay of several hours between when the new 151mainline release is tagged and when PGP-signed tarballs become 152available. The front page is updated once that process is completed.</p> 153</div> 154<div class="section" id="is-there-an-rss-feed-for-the-latest-kernel-version"> 155<h2>Is there an RSS feed for the latest kernel version?</h2> 156<p>Yes, and you can find it at <a class="reference external" href="https://www.kernel.org/feeds/kdist.xml">https://www.kernel.org/feeds/kdist.xml</a>.</p> 157<p>We also publish a .json file with the latest release information, which 158you can pull from here: <a class="reference external" href="https://www.kernel.org/releases.json">https://www.kernel.org/releases.json</a>.</p> 159</div> 160<div class="section" id="where-can-i-find-kernel-3-10-0-1160-45-1-foo"> 161<h2>Where can I find kernel 3.10.0-1160.45.1.foo?</h2> 162<p>Kernel versions that have a dash in them are packaged by distributions 163and are often extensively modified. Please contact the relevant 164distribution to obtain the exact kernel source.</p> 165<p>See the <a class="reference external" href="https://www.kernel.org/releases.html">Releases</a> page for more info on distribution kernels.</p> 166</div> 167<div class="section" id="how-do-i-report-a-problem-with-the-kernel"> 168<h2>How do I report a problem with the kernel?</h2> 169<p>If you are running a kernel that came with your Linux distribution, then 170the right place to start is by reporting the problem through your 171distribution support channels. Here are a few popular choices:</p> 172<ul class="simple"> 173<li><a class="reference external" href="https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/report-ubuntu-bug.html.en">Ubuntu</a></li> 174<li><a class="reference external" href="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/howto-file-a-bug/">Fedora Project</a></li> 175<li><a class="reference external" href="https://bugs.archlinux.org/">Arch Linux</a></li> 176<li><a class="reference external" href="https://projects.linuxmint.com/reporting-an-issue.html">Linux Mint</a></li> 177<li><a class="reference external" href="https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting">Debian GNU/Linux</a></li> 178<li><a class="reference external" href="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/">Red Hat</a></li> 179<li><a class="reference external" href="https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/">OpenSUSE</a></li> 180<li><a class="reference external" href="https://bugzilla.suse.com/">SUSE</a></li> 181</ul> 182<p>If you are sure that the problem is with the upstream kernel, please 183refer to the following document that describes how to report bugs and 184regressions to the developers:</p> 185<ul class="simple"> 186<li><a class="reference external" href="https://docs.kernel.org/admin-guide/reporting-issues.html">Reporting issues</a></li> 187</ul> 188</div> 189<div class="section" id="how-do-i-get-involved-with-linux-kernel-development"> 190<h2>How do I get involved with Linux Kernel development?</h2> 191<p>A good place to start is the <a class="reference external" href="http://kernelnewbies.org/">Kernel Newbies</a> website.</p> 192</div> 193<div class="section" id="can-i-get-an-account-on-kernel-org"> 194<h2>Can I get an account on kernel.org?</h2> 195<p>Kernel.org accounts are usually reserved for subsystem maintainers or 196high-profile developers. It is absolutely not necessary to have an 197account on kernel.org to contribute to the development of the Linux 198kernel, unless you submit pull requests directly to Linus Torvalds.</p> 199<p>If you are listed in the MAINTAINERS file or have reasons to believe you 200should have an account on kernel.org because of the amount of your 201contributions, please refer to the <a class="reference external" href="https://korg.docs.kernel.org/accounts.html">accounts page</a> for the 202procedure to follow.</p> 203</div> 204 </article> 205<nav> 206 <ul> 207 <li>Page 1 / 1</li> 208 </ul> 209</nav> 210 </aside><!-- /#featured --> 211 </ol><!-- /#posts-list --> 212 </section><!-- /#content --> 213 <section id="extras" class="body"> 214 <div class="blogroll"> 215 <h2>Other resources</h2> 216 <ul> 217 <li><a href="https://git.kernel.org/">Git Trees</a></li> 218 <li><a href="https://docs.kernel.org/">Documentation</a></li> 219 <li><a href="https://lore.kernel.org/">Kernel Mailing Lists</a></li> 220 <li><a href="https://patchwork.kernel.org/">Patchwork</a></li> 221 <li><a href="https://www.wiki.kernel.org/">Wikis</a></li> 222 <li><a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/">Bugzilla</a></li> 223 <li><a href="https://mirrors.kernel.org/">Mirrors</a></li> 224 <li><a href="https://www.linux.com/">Linux.com</a></li> 225 <li><a href="https://www.linuxfoundation.org/">Linux Foundation</a></li> 226 </ul> 227 </div><!-- /.blogroll --> 228 <div class="social"> 229 <h2>Social</h2> 230 <ul> 231 <li><a href="https://www.kernel.org/feeds/all.atom.xml" type="application/atom+xml" rel="alternate">Site Atom feed</a></li> 232 <li><a href="https://www.kernel.org/feeds/kdist.xml" type="application/atom+xml" rel="alternate">Releases Atom Feed</a></li> 233 234 <li><a href="https://planet.kernel.org/">Kernel Planet</a></li> 235 </ul> 236 </div><!-- /.social --> 237 </section><!-- /#extras --> 238 239 <footer id="contentinfo" class="body"> 240 <address id="about" class="vcard body"> 241 This site is operated by the Linux Kernel Organization, a <a href="https://www.kernel.org/nonprofit.html">
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