The Linux kernel is the main component of a Linux operating system (OS) and is the core interface between a computer’s hardware and its processes. It communicates between the two, managing resources as efficiently as possible. The kernel of the operating system is like an air traffic controller at an airport, and the applications are the airplanes under its control. The kernel decides which program gets which blocks of memory, it starts and kills applications, and it handles displaying text or graphics on a monitor.
As per Wikipedia, “The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was conceived and created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU operating system, which was created as a free replacement for UNIX”.
The Linux kernel generally has 4 jobs:
- Memory management: Keep track of how much memory is used to store what, and where
- Process management: Determine which processes can use the central processing unit (CPU), when, and for how long
- Device drivers: Act as mediator/interpreter between the hardware and processes
- System calls and security: Receive requests for service from the processes
Want to about Kernel info: Open Terminal / Konsole and run the command given below
uname -a
You will output like below
Linux fedora 5.13.19-200.fc34.x86_64 #1 SMP Sat Sep 18 16:32:24 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux