TIP_Kernel_Versions

Tip about retrieving latest kernel versions at login.

Install

Create a new file /etc/cron.daily/issue and paste the following:

#!/bin/bash
curl -Ss www.kernel.org/kdist/finger_banner     >  /etc/issue
echo -e "\n"                                    >> /etc/issue 
echo "This is \n.\O (\s \m \r) \t"              >> /etc/issue 
echo "Logging at \l"                            >> /etc/issue

• Then,

chmod 755 /etc/cron.daily/issue
/etc/cron.daily/issue
clear && logout

• It would display something like this:

The latest stable version of the Linux kernel is:           2.6.15.4
The latest prepatch for the stable Linux kernel tree is:    2.6.16-rc4
The latest snapshot for the stable Linux kernel tree is:    2.6.16-rc4-git8
The latest 2.4 version of the Linux kernel is:              2.4.32
The latest prepatch for the 2.4 Linux kernel tree is:       2.4.33-pre2
The latest 2.2 version of the Linux kernel is:              2.2.26
The latest prepatch for the 2.2 Linux kernel tree is:       2.2.27-rc2
The latest 2.0 version of the Linux kernel is:              2.0.40
The latest -ac patch to the stable Linux kernels is:        2.6.11-ac7
The latest -mm patch to the stable Linux kernels is:        2.6.16-rc4-mm2

• Enjoy!!

finger it

emerge -n netkit-fingerd
finger @kernel.org

But remember:
'August 21, 2003: Please don't use finger.kernel.org for any sort of automatic monitoring. The number of automatic bots hitting this port is causing the finger daemon to shut down more often than not.' (from http://www.kernel.org, the official linux kernel website)