<P> Starting in 2004, the release process changed and new kernels started coming out on a regular schedule every 2--3 months, numbered 2.6. 0, 2.6. 1, up through 2.6. 39 . </P> <P> On 21 July 2011, Torvalds announced the release of Linux kernel 3.0: "Gone are the 2.6. <bignum> days". The version bump is not about major technological changes when compared to Linux 2.6. 39; it marks the kernel's 20th anniversary . The time - based release process remained the same . </P> <P> Version 3.10 of the Linux kernel, released in June 2013, contains 15,803,499 lines of code, while the version 4.1, released in June 2015, has grown to over 19.5 million lines of code contributed by almost 14,000 programmers . </P> <P> The fact that Linux is a monolithic kernel rather than a microkernel was the topic of a debate between Andrew S. Tanenbaum, the creator of MINIX, and Linus Torvalds . The debate, started in 1992 on the Usenet discussion group comp. os. minix, was about Linux and kernel architecture in general . Tanenbaum argued that microkernels were superior to monolithic kernels and that therefore Linux was obsolete . Unlike traditional monolithic kernels, device drivers in Linux are easily configured as loadable kernel modules and are loaded or unloaded while running the system . This subject was revisited on 9 May 2006, and on 12 May 2006 Tanenbaum wrote a position statement . </P>

How many lines of code is the linux kernel