The Linux kernel repository on GitHub reached 155,000 stars in 2026, more than any other operating system project on the platform. Shell script repositories grew 324% across GitHub’s generative AI project category in 2025, and the total repository count crossed 630 million. This article covers verified data on GitHub Linux-related repository growth, contributor trends, and star counts from sources published through early 2026.
GitHub Linux-Related Repository Growth Statistics: Key Numbers
- The torvalds/linux repository holds 155,000 GitHub stars as of 2026.
- Kernel release 6.18 attracted 2,134 active contributors in 2025 — the highest count ever recorded for a single release.
- Shell script repositories grew 324% across GitHub’s generative AI project category in 2025.
- 84.3% of Linux kernel commits in 2025 came from corporate developers across 1,780+ organizations.
- Git adoption reached 93.87% among developers globally as of 2025, up from 87.1% in 2016.
How Many Linux-Related Repositories Are on GitHub in 2026?
GitHub’s total repository count crossed 630 million in 2025, with 121 million new projects added in the twelve-month period ending August 2025. Developers created more than 230 repositories every minute during that period. Public repositories account for 63% of the total, growing 19% year-over-year, while private repositories expanded 33%.
Python leads language-classified repositories at 20.67% of the total tracked by GitCharts as of April 2026. Shell scripting appears in an estimated 4 million repositories — roughly 3% of classified repos. C and C++, the primary languages of the kernel and Linux system tooling, hold a combined share consistent with their multi-decade presence on the platform.
Source: GitHub Octoverse 2025; GitCharts, April 2026
Linux Kernel Repository Growth Statistics on GitHub
The Linux kernel reached 40,063,856 lines of code with version 6.14 rc1 in January 2025, doubling from approximately 20 million lines in 2015. The codebase grows at around 400,000 lines every two months, with device drivers making up approximately 60% of that total.
Total commits across all 2024 releases reached 75,314, down from 87,993 in 2023 — a result of larger individual commits rather than reduced activity. Kernel 6.15 became the busiest release since 6.7 with 14,612 changesets. Kernel 6.14 was the slowest since Linux 4.0 in 2015, with 11,003.
| Kernel Release | Changesets | First-Time Contributors |
|---|---|---|
| 6.14 | 11,003 | 228 |
| 6.15 | 14,612 | 262 |
| 6.16 | ~13,000 | — |
| 6.17 | ~13,500 | — |
| 6.18 | ~13,000 | 333 |
Source: Command Linux Kernel Statistics, January 2026
Kernel Lines of Code Growth
In 2025, 5,637 developers contributed to the full kernel tree, making 75,462 commits and adding 4,089,577 lines of net changes. Code review coverage in kernel 6.18 reached 49.2% of commits with Reviewed-by tags and 9.3% with Tested-by tags — both tracking above prior cycles.
Source: Command Linux Kernel Statistics; SeongJae Park kernel statistics, January 2026
Corporate Contributions to Linux Kernel Repositories
84.3% of Linux kernel commits in 2025 came from engineers employed by corporations, spread across more than 1,780 organizations. Intel held the top position by changeset volume, contributing nearly double the output of second-place Google. Oracle ranked in the top 5 contributors to the kernel core — defined as fs/, mm/, and kernel/ paths — across multiple recent releases.
| Organization | Contributor Role |
|---|---|
| Intel | No. 1 by changeset volume |
| No. 2 by changeset volume | |
| AMD | Top tester (Daniel Wheeler, since kernel 6.3) |
| Oracle | Top 5 kernel core contributor across recent releases |
| Red Hat | Consistent top 5 kernel core contributor |
Source: Command Linux Kernel Contributors Statistics, January 2026; Oracle Linux Blog, July 2025
Shell Script and Bash Repository Growth on GitHub
Shell scripts grew 324% in GitHub’s generative AI project category in 2025, making scripting the fastest-rising language in that segment per the GitHub Octoverse 2025 report. Teams used shell primarily to build evaluation routines, data preparation pipelines, and deployment automation around model endpoints.
ohmyzsh, the top-starred shell repository on GitHub, held 186,216 stars and 26,380 forks as of April 2026. Its 2,400+ contributors make it the most-followed shell tooling project on the platform. Bash leads developer scripting surveys at 49% usage per Stack Overflow 2025 data. For detailed data on shell usage distribution across Bash, Zsh, and Fish, including survey breakdowns by developer type and framework star counts, the Command Linux shell statistics page covers verified figures through early 2026.
Source: GitHub Octoverse 2025; GitHub EvanLi Rankings, April 2026
Top Linux-Related GitHub Repositories by Stars in 2026
The table and chart below list verified star counts for repositories directly tied to Linux tools, the kernel, or system-level development as of early 2026.
| Repository | Stars | Category |
|---|---|---|
| ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh | 186,216 | Zsh shell framework |
| torvalds/linux | 155,000 | Linux kernel |
| ghostty-org/ghostty | 45,247 | Terminal emulator |
| vim/vim | ~36,300 | Text editor |
| junegunn/vim-plug | 35,626 | Vim plugin manager |
Source: GitHub EvanLi Rankings, April 2026; Command Linux Terminal Emulator Statistics, March 2026
Linus Torvalds leads individual GitHub accounts by followers with 295,442 as of April 2026 per GitCharts data. For star count history, memory benchmarks, and contributor activity covering terminal emulators, the Linux terminal emulator statistics report covers Ghostty, Kitty, Alacritty, and Hyper through March 2026.
Git Version Control Adoption Among Linux Developers
According to Git usage data tracked by Command Linux, adoption reached 93.87% among developers globally in 2025, up from 87.1% in 2016. GitHub holds 67.8% of the version control system market, Azure DevOps covers 9.71% of tracked companies, and Bitbucket holds 7.2%.
The VCS market is projected to grow from $1.48 billion in 2025 to $3.22 billion by 2030 at a 16.9% compound annual growth rate. Banking, financial services, and insurance sectors account for roughly 30% of global VCS demand, and those environments run almost entirely on Linux servers. Linux holds 63.1% of the global server OS market and powers all 500 of the world’s top supercomputers, so a large share of repository traffic flows through Linux-hosted infrastructure regardless of the developer’s local OS.
Linux desktop market share reached 4.7% globally in 2025, up from 2.76% in 2022 — a 70% increase in three years. The United States crossed the 5% threshold for the first time in June 2025. As that user base grows, so does the pool of developers running Git natively on Linux desktops rather than through Windows Subsystem for Linux or macOS.
Source: Command Linux Git Usage Statistics 2026; Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024
FAQs
How many stars does the Linux kernel repository have on GitHub?
The torvalds/linux repository held 155,000 stars as of 2026, making it the most starred operating system project on the platform.
How many contributors does the Linux kernel have on GitHub in 2025?
Kernel release 6.18 attracted 2,134 active contributors in 2025, the highest contributor count ever recorded for a single release. The full 2025 LTS cycle included 5,275 unique developers across six releases.
Which shell repository has the most GitHub stars?
ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh leads all shell repositories with 186,216 stars and 26,380 forks as of April 2026, supported by 2,400+ active contributors.
What percentage of Linux kernel commits come from corporate developers?
84.3% of kernel commits in 2025 came from corporate developers across more than 1,780 organizations. Intel led by changeset volume, contributing nearly double the output of second-place Google.
How large is the Linux kernel codebase as tracked on GitHub?
The Linux kernel contained 40,063,856 lines of code as of January 2025 with kernel 6.14 rc1, adding approximately 400,000 lines every two months. Device drivers account for roughly 60% of the total.
