Farewell To The Linux 2.6 Kernel?

Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel was released in late 2003 and since then the developers have stuck with the 2.6.x.y version numbering. It's been five years with the stable Linux 2.6 kernel, but a proposal has been made on the Linux kernel mailing list to change this scheme. No, a Linux 2.8 kernel isn't secretly in the works, but Novell's Greg Kroah-Hartman has proposed the numbering version be time-based.

Instead of having say the Linux 2.6.28 kernel it could be called 2009.0.0 (or 2009.1.0). The next kernel update would then be called 2009.1.0 (or 2009.2.0). In response to Greg's mailing list message, others have proposed changing the version to Linux 3.x, an XX scheme (such as Linux 28), and other methods.

At this time it's all talk, but if a change ends up getting approved, we'll be sure to let you know.