linux version

[cjnkns]

I am sure this is going to sound dumb so i apologize a head of time for that.
On digg.com I saw a link that Novell is coming out with Suse linux 10.
Isn't ubuntu using 6.06 or something like that? And if so what is the difference and why is ubuntu using a lower version?

Thanks

[Fenyx]

Re: linux version

It's because Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLED/SLES) and Ubuntu are different Linux distributions, following different development/release schedules, so they have different version numbers. They really don't have anything to do with one another. Ubuntu also uses a different numbering scheme for it's versions. it's always composed of 2 parts, like in 6.06. The first part is the year it was released: 6 for 2006. The second part is for the month it was released: 06 means June. So Ubuntu 6.06 was released on 2006 June.

Other Linux distributions just follow a sequential numbering scheme, like SUSE Linux 10 came out after SUSE Linux 9, etc.

[cjnkns]

Re: linux version

Ah ok.

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it.

[kubicle]

Re: linux version

You can see the actual linux (kernel) version with the command

uname -r

As Jucato explained, each distribution (like Suse and (k)ubuntu) name (and number) their release versions according to their own scheme (which can be confusing)

[askrieger]

Re: linux version

As Kubicle implied, the number that matters when comparing Linux distributions Like Kubuntu and Suse is the kernel version. The newest is not neccesarily the best because, after release, kernels get patched both for security reasons and for module updates so the small numbers at the end are significant to connoiseurs. The rest of the software included in Linux distributions also has version numbers. You can find all of them at http://distrowatch.com but version comparisons are only a small part of the difference between distros.