LWN: Comments on "Kernel release status"

Kernel release status

geuder — Sun, 19 May 2013 12:37:17 +0000

> Note that these kernels (both 3.5 and 3.8) are not Ubuntu kernels.

Thanks for the clarification.

Kernel release status

henrix — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:32:16 +0000

> Where is a non Ubuntu user supposed to hear about kernel updates and be able to download them, if not on kernel.org?

In the same places as any other stable kernel: stable@vger.kernel.org and linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org. (Also at kernel-team@lists.ubuntu.com, but this list is generally more Ubuntu-specific).

Note that these kernels (both 3.5 and 3.8) are not Ubuntu kernels. While maintaining these kernels, we follow the rules defined in Documentation/stable_kernel_rules.txt. The only difference is that we don't keep our git trees in kernel.org, but they are public (see http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Dev/ExtendedStable for details).

Kernel release status

geuder — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:24:35 +0000

> Where is a non Ubuntu user supposed to hear about kernel updates and be able to download them

Not sure why one would want to use an Ubuntu kernel with some other distribution.

Well, for those who really like to do it, it should not be a problem to write a small cron job that takes an http connection to the Ubuntu repo and checks whether a new kernel has become available. Canonical also used to have a changelog server, which their package manager uses to display the changelog even before downloading the package (haven't looked at Ubuntu internals for a while, but I'd assume it hasn't gone anywhere). Accessed via http, too.

Alternatively, their source seems to be --- surprise surprise for a kernel developer --- in a git repo. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/SourceCode

Kernel release status

hmh — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:33:59 +0000

LKML and LWN. Where else? :-)

Kernel release status

Felix.Braun — Thu, 16 May 2013 06:50:16 +0000

Unfortunately, the Canonical guys don't seem to be using kernel.org infrastructure for their extended support. So I guess the effort will be lost for everybody but Ubuntu users. Where is a non Ubuntu user supposed to hear about kernel updates and be able to download them, if not on kernel.org?

Kernel release status

gregkh — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:34:22 +0000

I didn't abandon this one any "quicker" than any other stable release, so I don't understand the "haste and prejudice" comment.

As for finding out the support status of kernels, please see: https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html
for a list of the currently supported long-term kernels, and who is doing that work.

Kernel release status

naptastic — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:47:46 +0000

How is one supposed to figure out which kernel versions are going to be supported for a long time, and which ones will be abandoned with haste and prejudice as this one was?