Greg Kroah-Hartman Stretches Support Periods for Key Linux LTS Kernels (fossforce.com)
53 points by brideoflinux 3 days ago
kelnos 2 hours ago
I'm having trouble squaring these two statements from the article:
> the Linux kernel is catching up with its users’ wants when it comes to longevity.
> Kernel end-of-life dates mean very little for users, even at the enterprise level.
So... no one cares about longevity? Or they do? I'm confused.
killingtime74 2 hours ago
It explains further down that it means little because unofficial support was already available
wtallis 2 hours ago
Enterprises that care about using a kernel for many years typically put their own resources into providing the level of maintenance they require (or getting it from a distro that maintains their own LTS kernels), rather than depending on upstream to keep the patches coming for that branch. But if the upstream kernel support timelines become more closely aligned with what those downstream users want, they may shift to tracking upstream LTS branches.
xbar 2 hours ago
Glad to see every single one of these decisions. Thanks to the maintainers and the foundation for making this happen.
jauntywundrkind 5 hours ago
Are we seeing Android phones upgrade their kernels yet? This Samsung S22 is still on 5.10. I thought that part of the idea for Android GKI was that phones would start getting kernel upgrades. But I'm not sure if that's actually happening.
I wish there was more pressure for this. Especially as Android Virtualization Framework starts really arriving & being useful, having a more modern kernel could be a very nice help, could offer neat new capabilities.
rstat1 4 hours ago
Google did it with the Tensor-powered Pixels a while back, from w/e they shipped with to 6.1
yjftsjthsd-h 3 hours ago
Okay, but 6.1 is still from December 2022. Like... it's an improvement, but as my desktop sits at 6.19 and 7.0 is impending, I have to question why they lag so much.
almyfha 3 hours ago
b112 4 hours ago
Why would there be a need to upgrade the kernel? Security updates are often backported, so it can still be 5.10 but patched...
the_biot 4 hours ago
It could be, but are vendors actually upgrading kernels along with firmware updates? In my experience it's more like, ship 5+ year old kernel and then forget it forever.
yjftsjthsd-h 3 hours ago
So long as they keep up with patches that can be fine, but newer kernels also have useful feature improvements. If nothing else, performance tends to improve over time.
izacus an hour ago
Palomides 5 hours ago
there's basically zero intersection between mainline linux version support timelines and android kernels as deployed on phones
charcircuit 2 hours ago
GKI is only stable within the point release. It means that 5.10 LTS Linux can be safely updated to the latest versions 5.10 LTS Linux. The regular LTS branch has no compatibility guarantees that drivers for one release will be compatible with the next release on that branch.
lousken 3 hours ago
No 6.1? That's disappointing. Also I am surprised the previous decision wasn't reverted sooner. Linux foundation surely has enough resources to upkeep LTS kernels for longer.