Linux Kernel

The foundation of modern computing infrastructure

Warning · 74/100

Automated health estimate

The score summarizes repository activity. Funding is unknown and excluded from the score. These repository signals do not establish financial stability, security, or maintainer availability. How to interpret this data.

Funding

Unknown

Maintenance

Active

Contributors

Many observed

Bus Factor

Medium risk

Metrics last updated: today (2026-10-25)

Evidence and limitations

Activity source: torvalds/linux via the GitHub API. Counts describe this repository, which may be a mirror or only part of the project.

Commits in 30 days: 8189
Commits in 90 days: 27216
Authors accounting for half the sampled commits: 2

The 200-commit author sample does not cover the full 90 days. Author counts are lower bounds; concentration describes the sample only.

Few commits can reflect mature software. Commit authors do not establish merge rights, available maintainers, organizational diversity, or knowledge distribution. Funding is unknown; donation links alone do not establish income or runway.

Correct this assessment or provide evidence →

Ways to help Linux Kernel

We have not yet checked this project's specific support needs.

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People associated with this project

Profiles include creators, contributors, and former maintainers. This is not a complete roster of the current team.

Linus Torvalds

Linux Kernel Creator and Lead Maintainer

🛡️ Potential Successors

If Linus Torvalds steps down:

Vote on GitHub Discussions

Overview

The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It is the foundation of the Linux family of operating systems (commonly called Linux distributions or distros).

Importance

Powers 96.3% of the world’s top one million servers
Runs on all of the world’s top 500 supercomputers
Android is based on the Linux kernel (3.9 billion active devices)
Foundation of cloud infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure)

Key Features

Process and memory management
Device drivers and hardware abstraction
Network stack and protocols
Security modules (SELinux, AppArmor)
Container support (cgroups, namespaces)

Governance

Linus Torvalds remains the ultimate authority for kernel releases, but the project has a well-established lieutenant system that distributes knowledge across multiple subsystem maintainers.