Garden Linux

In a Gardener cluster, worker nodes run Garden Linux, which is a Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux.

Version scheme

Garden Linux uses an unusual version scheme: releases use a major version number derived from the “gardenlinux epoch”, and should ostensibly reflect the number of days since April 1, 2020 (although in reality, the major release numbers are off by a number of days).

For example, the major release that landed on August 22, 2024 was release 1592. The next major release, on July 11, 2025, had the major release number 1877.

Minor releases are numbered with incrementing integer minor version numbers. They tend to include mostly bug fixes, as opposed to functionality updates or new features. For example, 1877.3 was a Garden Linux release that fixed a lot of security issues in the 1877 release series.

Linux kernel

Garden Linux runs on the latest longterm release Linux kernel version available at the time of a major release. For instance, Garden Linux 1592 includes the Linux 6.6.47 kernel, whereas Garden Linux 1877 includes Linux 6.12.36.

Container runtime

Garden Linux defaults to using the Podman container runtime.