Nge-25 ka-Agasti 1991, emva kweenyanga ezintlanu zophuhliso, umfundi oneminyaka engama-21 ubudala, ULinus Torvalds, ubhengezwe kwi-teleconference iikhompawundi ukuba iprototype esebenzayo igqityiwe yenkqubo entsha yokusebenza I-Linux, porting bash 1.08 kunye gcc 1.40.
Ngale ndlela ngokungazi iyakuba lukhuko lokuqala loluntu lweLinux kernel eyanikelwa ngoSeptemba 17. I-Kernel 0.0.1 yaxinzelelwa kwi-62 KB kwaye iqulethe malunga nemigca ye-10.000 yekhowudi yomthombo, ngokungafaniyo nohlobo lwangoku, i-Linux kernel yanamhlanje inemigca yekhowudi engaphezu kwezigidi ezingama-30.
Ikhonkco leLinux iphefumlelwe yinkqubo yokusebenza ye-MINIX, ebengamfanelanga uLinus ngelayisenisi yakhe encinci. Emva koko, xa iLinux yaba yiprojekthi eyaziwayo, abagxeki wazama ukutyhola uLinus ngokukopa ngokuthe ngqo ikhowudi yezinye iindlela ezisezantsi IMINIX.
Uhlaselo lwagxothwa nguAndrew Tanenbaum, umbhali weMINIX, owathuma umfundi ukuba enze uthelekiso oluneenkcukacha lwekhowudi yeMinix kunye neenguqulelo zokuqala zikawonke-wonke zeLinux. Iziphumo zophononongo zibonise ubukho beekhowudi ezine zekhowudi ezihambelanayo kuphela, ngenxa yeemfuno zePOSIX kunye ne-ANSI C.
ULinus ekuqaleni wayecinga ngokubiza i-kernel Freax, ukusuka kumagama "mahala", "freak" kunye no-X (Unix). Kodwa Igama elithi "Linux" lanikwa ikernel nguAri Lemmke, owathi, ngesicelo sikaLinus, wabeka i-kernel kwi-server ye-FTP yeyunivesithi, ebiza i-directory kunye nefayile kungekhona "i-freax", njengoko uTorvalds ecelile, kodwa "linux".
Kuyaphawuleka ukuba usomashishini oshishinayo uWilliam Della Croce wakwazi ukubhalisa uphawu lokuthengisa lweLinux kwaye wayefuna ukuqokelela imali yokuhlawula ngexesha, kodwa kamva watshintsha ingqondo yakhe waza wadlulisela onke amalungelo kuphawu lwentengiso kuLinus. I-mascot esemthethweni ye-Linux kernel, i-penguin Tux, yakhethwa ngenxa yokhuphiswano olwalubanjwe ngo-1996 kwaye igama layo elithi Tux limele i-Torvalds UniX.
Ngokuphathelele imbali yophuhliso lwekernel, sabelana kancinci ngayo:
- NgoSeptemba 1991: I-Linux 0.0.1, ukukhutshwa kokuqala koluntu okuxhasa kuphela i-CPU ye-i386 kunye neebhutsi kwi-floppy disk.
NgoJanuwari 1992: I-Linux 0.12, ikhowudi yaqala ukuhanjiswa phantsi kwelayisensi ye-GPLv2 - Matshi 1992: I-Linux 0.95, inikwe amandla okuqhuba i-X Window System, inkxaso yememori ebonakalayo kunye nokwahlulahlula ukwahlula, kunye nokusasazwa kokuqala kwe-SLS kunye neYggdrasil.
- Ngehlobo lowe-1993, Iiprojekthi zeSlackware kunye neDebian zasekwa.
Matshi 1994: I-Linux 1.0, inguqulelo yokuqala ezinzile ngokusemthethweni.
Matshi 1995: I-Linux 1.2, ukonyuka okubonakalayo kwenani labaqhubi, inkxaso yeAlpha, iMIP kunye namaqonga e-SPARC, ukwandiswa kwamandla emfumba yenethiwekhi, ukubonakala kwesihluzo sepakethi, inkxaso yeNFS. - NgoJuni 1996: I-Linux 2.0, inkxaso yeenkqubo ezininzi.
- NgoJanuwari 1999: I-Linux 2.2, ukwanda kwenkqubo yolawulo lwenkumbulo, ukongezwa kwenkxaso ye-IPv6, ukuphunyezwa komlilo omtsha, kwazisa inkqubo esezantsi yesandi
- Febrero de 2001: I-Linux 2.4, inkxaso yeenkqubo ze-8-processor kunye ne-64 GB ye-RAM, inkqubo yefayile ye-Ext3, i-USB, inkxaso ye-ACPI.
- Disemba 2003: I-Linux 2.6, inkxaso ye-SELinux, izixhobo ezizenzekelayo zokucwangcisa i-kernel, ii-sysfs, inkqubo yolawulo lwenkumbulo ehlelwe ngokutsha.
- NgoSeptemba 2008, Kwenziwa ingxelo yokuqala yeqonga le-Android esekwe kwi-Linux kernel.
- NgoJulayi 2011, emva kweminyaka eli-10 yophuhliso lwe-2.6.x yesebe, ukutshintshela kwinani le-3.x kwenziwa.
- Kwi 2015, I-Linux 4.0, inani lezinto ze-git kwindawo yokugcina izinto lifikelele kwizigidi ezi-4.
- Nge-Epreli ye2018, Ndoyisile umqobo wezinto ezi-6 zezigidi ze-git-core kwindawo yokugcina izinto.
- NgoJanuwari 2019Kwenziwa isebe le-Linux 5.0 kernel.
- Kuthunyelwe ngo-Agasti 2020, I-kernel 5.8 yayiyeyona inkulu ngokwenani lotshintsho lwazo zonke iinkozo ngexesha lobomi beprojekthi.
- Kwi 2021, khowudi yokuphuhlisa abaqhubi beelwimi zeRust yongezwa kwisebe elilandelayo leLinux kernel.
- Ngo-Agasti ka-2022, i-Linux kernel 6.0 isebe lenziwe, njengoko kwakukho iinguqulelo ezaneleyo kwisebe le-5.x ukutshintsha inombolo yokuqala kwinombolo yoguqulelo.