The Linux kernel project is about to celebrate its 24th birthday and it looks like it's stronger than ever. Almost a quarter of a century after version 0.01 was made available, Linux is almost running the world and its expansion is not stopping.

Linus Torvalds announced that he was working on a piece of software on August 25, 1991, and he released it on October 5 that same year. Granted, there still are a couple of days left until that particular "birthday," but it's never too soon to share some interesting facts about the Linux kernel.

Today's Linux kernel is a behemoth and has more than 19 million lines of code, which is a huge increase from its original 10,000. It's also interesting to know that almost 12,000 developers are contributing to the kernel, making this the biggest collaborative project on the planet.

"The rate of Linux development is unmatched. The average number of changes accepted into the kernel per hour is 7.71, which translates to 185 changes every day and nearly 1,300 per week. In recent years, the powerful growth of the Linux kernel and resulting innovation has inspired others to adapt the principles, practices and methodologies that makes Linux so successful to solve some of today’s most complex technology problems," wrote Jennifer Cloer on the Linux Foundation website.

So, make sure that you celebrate Linux's birthday on October 5 by checking to see if you have a new kernel update for your favorite distro.