Linus Torvalds, the founder and creator of the open-source Linux operating system, releases a new Linux kernel every 10 to 12 weeks, but not all Linux kernels have a long life and not all kernels are stable enough for enterprise or consumer electronics usage. The kernel is the heart of a Linux operating system, and updates provide new capabilities, including system architecture, filesystem, networking and driver support.
This week, Greg Kroah-Hartman, a Fellow at the Linux Foundation, declared that the recent Linux 3.10 kernel release that first debuted at the end of June will be a long-term kernel release.