Where can I find the version of the Linux kernel source tree?

Question

I downloaded only the archive from my source Linux tree from the hardware vendor (there is no git repo metadata), is there any way to find out the kernel version number?

Is the version number usually stored in a file somewhere in the source tree?

I would like to be able to do this without compiling and starting the kernel.

Answer 1

You can find the version by running

make kernelversion 

In the source tree

Answer 2

Check out the top level Makefile , an example of which is here . At the top of this you should see something like:

 VERSION = 3 PATCHLEVEL = 1 SUBLEVEL = 0 EXTRAVERSION = -pax NAME = Custom Pax Version 

The advantage of this method is that you only need the ability to view the files themselves, and not the build process.

Answer 3

Another solution: in the old days include/linux/version.h , now include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h , but only after at least partially successful compilation.