Sunday, December 16, 2018

Old kernel with Ubuntu 16.04.2 update



My machine was updated today to Ubuntu 16.04.2. However, the kernel is still "4.4.0-62-generic". What happened (it seemed that the principal advantage of the 16.04.2 version was the update of the kernel to 4.8) ?

Do I have to make a fresh install ?



"Updated to 16.04.2" and "installed 16.04.2" do not render the same result. The HWE packs for the Kernel and X aren't automatically installed onto existing non-point-release installs of Ubuntu.



For the main reason that it'd really annoy a whole load of people who have a stable system one day and then have to battle a new kernel. That's why the .0 kernel gets a full five year support.



You can opt-in to install the HWE packs (and have been able to for a little while) with:



sudo apt-get install --install-recommends xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04  






There is an important point to make here that starting from 16.04.2, point releases will be on rolling HWE stacks. You will automatically be shunted onto newer major versions of X and the Kernel.



This is a really important thing to note if you're deploying Ubuntu in low-maintenance situations. You don't want to climb a 50-foot ladder to get to your digital signage controller because a dodgy kernel update caught you off guard.


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