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torvalds/linux

Star momentum, maintenance concentration, contributor health, and codebase change — one report built from public repository data.

Open on GitHub
Current stars
249,169
Activity since
2011
Latest activity
Sep 2026

Public star activity

Last 30 days
+555
Last 90 days
+686
Actions / day
44
Public star actions
stars from September 4, 2011 to September 16, 2026, peaking at 241,455.241k STARS15 YR241kSEP 2026SEP 2011

241,455 stars on September 16, 2026.

stars by date
Datestars
September 4, 201126
September 30, 20112,759
October 13, 20112,912
November 8, 20113,127
December 4, 20113,344
December 18, 20113,435
January 14, 20123,584
February 9, 20123,742
February 22, 20123,830
September 30, 20124,071
October 26, 20124,277
November 8, 20124,414
December 4, 20124,639
December 31, 20124,850
January 13, 20134,968
February 8, 20135,305
March 6, 20135,665
March 19, 20135,873
April 15, 20136,337
May 11, 20136,701
May 24, 20136,927
June 19, 20137,272
July 16, 20137,700
July 29, 20137,932
August 24, 20138,366
September 19, 20138,785
October 3, 20139,000
October 29, 20139,403
November 24, 20139,858
December 7, 201310,180
January 3, 201410,600
January 29, 201411,046
February 11, 201411,255
March 9, 201411,837
April 5, 201412,321
April 18, 201412,546
May 14, 201413,011
June 9, 201413,470
June 22, 201413,699
July 19, 201414,198
August 14, 201414,748
August 27, 201414,987
September 22, 201415,558
October 19, 201416,366
November 1, 201416,811
November 27, 201417,554
December 23, 201418,333
January 5, 201518,640
February 1, 201519,543
February 27, 201520,285
March 12, 201520,743
April 7, 201521,763
May 4, 201522,991
May 17, 201523,405
June 12, 201524,180
July 8, 201524,922
July 22, 201525,419
August 17, 201526,134
September 12, 201526,974
September 25, 201527,578
October 22, 201528,630
November 17, 201529,548
December 13, 201530,402
December 26, 201530,796
January 23, 201631,584
February 18, 201632,495
March 2, 201632,870
March 28, 201633,687
April 24, 201634,675
May 7, 201635,163
June 2, 201636,132
June 28, 201637,024
July 11, 201637,395
August 7, 201638,352
September 2, 201639,909
September 15, 201640,650
October 11, 201641,709
November 7, 201643,082
November 20, 201643,534
December 16, 201644,769
January 11, 201745,911
January 24, 201746,758
February 20, 201748,339
March 18, 201749,663
March 31, 201750,261
April 26, 201751,383
May 23, 201752,449
June 5, 201752,895
July 1, 201753,838
July 27, 201754,930
August 10, 201755,577
September 5, 201756,839
October 1, 201758,134
October 14, 201758,918
November 10, 201760,241
December 6, 201761,499
December 19, 201761,979
January 14, 201863,267
February 10, 201864,546
February 23, 201865,010
March 21, 201866,262
April 17, 201867,342
April 30, 201867,880
May 27, 201868,915
June 22, 201870,187
July 5, 201870,653
July 31, 201871,635
August 27, 201872,741
September 9, 201873,345
October 5, 201874,820
October 31, 201875,930
November 13, 201876,499
December 10, 201877,503
January 5, 201978,462
January 18, 201979,147
February 13, 201980,271
March 12, 201981,832
March 25, 201982,577
April 20, 201985,415
May 16, 201986,960
May 30, 201987,780
June 25, 201989,053
July 21, 201990,355
August 3, 201991,299
August 30, 201992,683
September 25, 201993,903
October 8, 201994,494
November 3, 201995,726
November 30, 201997,256
December 13, 201997,899
January 8, 202099,232
February 3, 2020100,406
February 16, 2020101,051
March 14, 2020102,830
April 9, 2020104,204
April 22, 2020105,043
May 18, 2020106,607
June 14, 2020108,193
June 27, 2020108,936
July 23, 2020110,904
August 18, 2020112,464
September 1, 2020113,277
September 28, 2020114,910
October 24, 2020116,680
November 6, 2020117,627
December 2, 2020119,049
December 29, 2020120,688
January 11, 2021121,441
February 6, 2021122,982
March 4, 2021124,485
March 18, 2021125,760
April 13, 2021127,422
May 12, 2021130,159
May 25, 2021131,066
June 21, 2021132,558
July 17, 2021134,241
July 30, 2021135,015
August 27, 2021136,391
September 23, 2021138,166
October 6, 2021138,771
November 5, 2021139,635
December 1, 2021141,235
December 14, 2021142,055
January 10, 2022143,613
February 5, 2022146,758
February 18, 2022147,548
March 16, 2022149,208
April 12, 2022151,156
April 25, 2022151,918
May 21, 2022153,349
June 16, 2022154,742
June 30, 2022155,559
July 26, 2022157,074
August 21, 2022158,961
September 3, 2022159,745
September 29, 2022161,374
October 26, 2022163,214
November 8, 2022163,925
December 4, 2022165,510
December 30, 2022166,873
January 26, 2023168,585
February 8, 2023169,332
March 6, 2023171,099
April 1, 2023172,777
April 15, 2023173,621
May 11, 2023175,226
June 6, 2023177,065
June 19, 2023177,734
July 16, 2023179,089
August 11, 2023180,471
August 24, 2023181,159
September 19, 2023182,776
October 16, 2023184,314
October 29, 2023185,128
November 24, 2023187,088
December 20, 2023188,505
January 2, 2024189,214
January 29, 2024191,006
February 24, 2024192,800
March 8, 2024193,724
April 3, 2024195,668
April 30, 2024197,726
May 13, 2024198,640
June 8, 2024200,360
July 4, 2024201,976
July 18, 2024202,929
August 13, 2024204,584
September 8, 2024206,636
September 21, 2024207,621
October 17, 2024209,589
November 13, 2024211,780
November 26, 2024212,699
December 22, 2024214,277
January 17, 2025216,001
January 31, 2025216,877
February 26, 2025218,888
March 24, 2025220,731
April 6, 2025221,691
May 3, 2025223,551
May 29, 2025225,306
June 11, 2025225,976
July 7, 2025227,221
August 3, 2025228,507
August 16, 2025229,209
September 11, 2025230,474
October 7, 2025232,116
October 24, 2025232,473
November 20, 2025233,367
December 16, 2025234,794
December 29, 2025235,388
January 24, 2026236,637
February 20, 2026237,633
March 5, 2026238,431
March 31, 2026239,419
April 26, 2026240,300
May 10, 2026240,530
June 6, 2026240,769
July 2, 2026240,872
August 11, 2026240,900
September 16, 2026241,455

The last 90 days run behind its lifetime average, which is ordinary for a mature project.

Observed activity milestones: 100 around Sep 20111k around Sep 201110k around Dec 2013100k around Feb 2020

The commit history reads torvalds/linux a second time

methodology

Fix-labelled changes, file change frequency, ownership concentration and maintenance cadence, each computed from this repository's analyzed commit window. None of them is derived from stars, which is why they are allowed to disagree with the curve above.

Fix-labelled changes
Fix-labelled changes for torvalds/linux
File change frequency
File change frequency for torvalds/linux
Bus factor
Bus factor for torvalds/linux
Maintenance pulse
Maintenance pulse for torvalds/linux
Contributors
Contributors for torvalds/linux
Language activity
Language activity for torvalds/linux
Commit activity
Commit activity for torvalds/linux
Recent TODO/FIXME movement
Recent TODO/FIXME movement for torvalds/linux

Attention is not adoption.

Stars against usage

No published package was detected for this repository, so there is nothing to lay over star growth.

Earned badges

badge studio

Maintenance, ownership and star-momentum signals, computed from the same commit and star history and embeddable as static images.

Reading badge evidence for torvalds/linux.

Notes on torvalds/linux

How many stars does torvalds/linux have?
GitHub currently reports 249,169 stars for torvalds/linux. The chart itself is rebuilt from historical star data, which records star actions and not unstars, so it reads as an attention signal rather than a net star count.
What does recent star activity look like for linux?
gitdebt observed about 686 public star actions for torvalds/linux over the latest 90 days of archive coverage (about 555 in the latest 30). This is an approximate attention signal, not a net-star count, because unstars are not present. That's below its lifetime average activity pace, which is common for mature projects.
Is linux still active?
Public archive data shows about 555 star actions for torvalds/linux in the latest 30 days of coverage. For repository activity, use the commit heatmap, commit trend, and contributor charts on this page.
When was linux created?
torvalds/linux was created on September 4, 2011. The first public star activity observed for torvalds/linux is from Sep 2011.

Read linux against a neighbour

comparison builder
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Put this drawing in your README

markdown for agents

The block below publishes the chart with its source and coverage date stated beside it — the same three facts the title block above shows, as text a reader can check. The prompt underneath hands a coding agent the badges and repo-health charts as well.

README.md · torvalds/linux star history
<a href="https://gitdebt.com/torvalds/linux?ref=readme">
  <picture>
    <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://api.gitdebt.com/api/repos/torvalds/linux/chart.svg?theme=dark" />
    <img alt="torvalds/linux star history" src="https://api.gitdebt.com/api/repos/torvalds/linux/chart.svg?theme=light" />
  </picture>
</a>

<sub>Star history source: Historical star data · Covers through September 16, 2026 · Still updating — <a href="https://gitdebt.com/torvalds/linux?ref=readme">gitdebt</a></sub>

Light and dark variants, alt text, and one provenance line. Provenance is text in your README, never baked into the image URL, so the chart stays cacheable.

Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or any coding agent with your checkout open. It carries the measured numbers, the exact snippets, and the rules — including replacing an existing star-history widget in place rather than stacking a second chart under it.