# How often do you update your kernel?

## jserink

I'm just wondering how often people update their kernel?

its always a scary process for me so I tend to put it off as long as I can.

Thoughts?

Cheers,

John

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## poly_poly-man

used to do it every major version.

Nowadays, I stay at 2.6.21.something to support my tuner card.

Upgrading is not too hard... do it!

poly-p man

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## jkomar

I update every time a new version goes stable.

Jason

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## coolsnowmen

only when there is a feature that I want, or I think a newer version might "fix" some problem I may or may not be having.

Or, if it's been so long that the gentoo-sources arn't even on the stable list anymore.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

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## <3

about every 3 months when I have some free time. It's such a hassle to upgrade the kernel, one of the things I dislike the most about linux. It's the price you have to pay for having a lean customizable kernel.

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## poly_poly-man

 *<3 wrote:*   

> about every 3 months when I have some free time. It's such a hassle to upgrade the kernel, one of the things I dislike the most about linux. It's the price you have to pay for having a lean customizable kernel.

 

 :Shocked: 

what's so hard?

the only hassle (besides configing - which is in most cases done simply with oldconfig) is the reboot - and that's quick (assuming you don't have a strangely setup server)

poly-p man

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## pappy_mcfae

On my old laptop, my experimental machine, I like to try out new kernels as soon as they are released. I do this to see if the b43 module has stopped sucking, or if ndiswrapper has come back to the functionality it once had with the .22 kernel family.

On my 64 bit, I like to try the major revisions. Right now, it's running 2.6.26, both vanilla and gentoo sources. The last upgrade before that was to 2.6.25-gentoo-r3. It is also the only machine in my computer corral that ran a .24 kernel for longer than an hour.

On this machine, I only upgrade the kernel when I can assure full wireless connectivity. Consequently, this machine has been running 2.6.22.19 and 2.6.22-gentoo-r10 since their release. Only when .26 came out and supported ndiswrapper did I decide to switch. I need to be able to rely on my wireless networking with this machine. Therefore, it only gets kernels if the wireless comes up working right the first time, every time.

Blessed be!

Pappy

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## baeksu

I usually have some short laundry list of issues to fix, so when I have enough free time (a few times a year), I update the kernel, the system, do a reboot, and see whether the list can be pared down. I try not to pick .0 a kernel version, so that I don't get caught by any regression bugs. 

Last time I update the kernel was to fix the vmsplice problem and set up tuxonice. I'll probably upgrade in a month or two, once the mtrr bug has been fixed (also waiting for KDE 4.1).

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## Monkeh

I pick the latest code out of git whenever I can be bothered. Kernels are easy to upgrade. Now, things like hal and udev.. they're scary.

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## Akkara

Usually every 2nd or 3rd one that hits stable.  Depends how much I like the old one.  (Right now, 2.6.25-gentoo-r6 is doing low-latency real-time audio a lot better than any kernel in recent memory so I'll probably be sticking with this one for some time.)

I check the changelogs pretty often to see what's up so if it fixes something I'm using I'll update sooner.  Otherwise give it several days or so after stable and then make sure there aren't any new xfs-related bugs (I use xfs a lot  :Smile:  ).

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## poly_poly-man

hey, can someone with the .26 kernel try out compiling v4l-dvb-hg (the mercurial branch of v4l-dvb - preferribly from mercurial, not portage.)... you don't have to install, just tell me if it compiles.

thanks,

poly-p man

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## Monkeh

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

> hey, can someone with the .26 kernel try out compiling v4l-dvb-hg (the mercurial branch of v4l-dvb - preferribly from mercurial, not portage.)... you don't have to install, just tell me if it compiles.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> poly-p man

 

Worked fine a week or so ago when I built it against a post-.26 git tree. ps. the ebuild pulls from hg anyway, so it makes no difference.

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## frostschutz

I go to www.kernel.org from time to time, and when there is a new version, I download it - the whole tar archive for major upgrades (2.6.x), the patch file for minor upgrades (2.6.x.y).

The rest is pretty much automated process, i.e. I copy the config, make oldconfig, compile and install the kernel.

With the next reboot the new kernel becomes active.

Doing it for years like this, never had any issues with it.

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## asturm

Yep, I do update almost every minor revision as soon as it gets keyworded.

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## MasterDragon

I usually update my kernel as a side effect to keeping the kernel sources up to date and needing to change something in the kernel config.

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## bigbangnet

I'm the same type of guy that can say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". But I ain't afraid of playing with my kernel. I remember the first day I tried to install gentoo when I wondered how to boot the #*(#UJ thing. Look at me today, I love Gentoo.  :Twisted Evil: 

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## pdw_hu

ASAP :)

Back in Slackware I upgraded as soon as a stable release occured. (Sometimes i've even used late -rc-s).

Nowadays i just wait for gentoo-sources to be updated.

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## tmasscool

I update at every minor revision as soon as it gets keyworded too... Keeping a backup of the working kernel in case things are going wrong. I believe it's harder to update udev or hal, it causes more headache ...

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## yabbadabbadont

 *jkomar wrote:*   

> I update every time a new version goes stable.
> 
> Jason

 

++

Generally when a new version is marked stable, it is because of security issues.

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## frostschutz

 *bigbangnet wrote:*   

> "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

 

True, however with the kernel there are special circumstances. If you never update your kernel, your system will break. Sooner or later, usually sooner than later, new apps will expect new kernel features to be there, Gentoo will compile things with kernel headers of newer kernel versions, so not updating the kernel ever is not an option, unless you want to see breakage at some point.

You don't have to make an update for every minor version, but at the very least, I'd stick with what is currently the stable major version in Gentoo at all times, simply because other ebuild may expect the currently stable version of the kernel to be there at the very least.

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## poly_poly-man

 *frostschutz wrote:*   

>  *bigbangnet wrote:*   "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" 
> 
> True, however with the kernel there are special circumstances. If you never update your kernel, your system will break. Sooner or later, usually sooner than later, new apps will expect new kernel features to be there, Gentoo will compile things with kernel headers of newer kernel versions, so not updating the kernel ever is not an option, unless you want to see breakage at some point.

 

BRING IT ON!!!

srsly, can someone try compiling the v4l-dvb-hg tree?

tried with 2.6.24 last... didn't work.

poly-p man

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## <3

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

>  *<3 wrote:*   about every 3 months when I have some free time. It's such a hassle to upgrade the kernel, one of the things I dislike the most about linux. It's the price you have to pay for having a lean customizable kernel. 
> 
> what's so hard?
> 
> the only hassle (besides configing - which is in most cases done simply with oldconfig) is the reboot - and that's quick (assuming you don't have a strangely setup server)
> ...

 

Well I was under the impression that you shouldn't use oldconfig when upgrading to a new major kernel release. Is this not true? It's the configing that is such a hassle. There are so many changes in the Linux kernel between versions that I never felt safe using oldconfigs.

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## asturm

It's absolutely safe, I'm doing it that way since about 2.6.18...

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## platojones

 *Quote:*   

> Well I was under the impression that you shouldn't use oldconfig when upgrading to a new major kernel release. Is this not true? It's the configing that is such a hassle. There are so many changes in the Linux kernel between versions that I never felt safe using oldconfigs.

 

Yes, but by major, I always assumed MAJOR kernel upgrade (i.e., the last time I redid my config from scratch was 2.4 to 2.6).  I have used oldconfig with every minor upgrade since.  I upgrade everytime a new gentoo-sources goes stable as well, (and always keep about the last 5 kernels around, in case something blows up).  Never had a problem with oldconfig and I have a simple bash script that builds and installs the kernel and also rebuilds any packages that have kernel depencies and modules that need to be rebuilt.  For me, the actual amount of work if maybe 30 sec - 5 min (if there are new config options with the new kernel that oldconfig detects...my script also brings up the menu.lst from grub in an editor..I just copy and paste a new kernel entry there and clean up any old ones)...then I just kick off the build in the background and go back to doing whatever it was I was doing.

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## SiberianSniper

Generally I only upgrade when there's a legit reason to, i.e. when modules just don't work any more with everything else.  I'm still on 2.6.21 with the ck patch, and probably will be for at least another year, maybe more.

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## tabanus

 *yabbadabbadont wrote:*   

>  *jkomar wrote:*   I update every time a new version goes stable.
> 
> Jason 
> 
> ++
> ...

 

++

There are no GLSAs for the kernel and Linus appears to be a bit reluctant to publicise security issues.

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## <3

 *platojones wrote:*   

> Yes, but by major, I always assumed MAJOR kernel upgrade (i.e., the last time I redid my config from scratch was 2.4 to 2.6).  I have used oldconfig with every minor upgrade since.

 

OK I thought major meant for example from 2.6.20 to 2.6.23. But if it is ok to use oldconfigs in such situations then I will start using them. I spent over an hour last time I upgraded my kernel trying to remove stuff I don't need and trying to figure out what I do need.

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## tabanus

This is my kernel updating routine:

```
eselect kernel list

eselect kernel set [#]

zcat /proc/config.gz > /usr/src/linux/.config

cd /usr/src/linux

make oldconfig

make menuconfig

make -j3 && make modules_install

mount /boot

mv /boot/bzImage.old /boot/bzImage.old.1

mv /boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage.old

cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot

cp .config /boot/config-2.6.[#]-gentoo-r[#]

umount /boot

emerge nvidia-drivers

emerge vmware-modules
```

In grub I have three options for the three kernels that this creates (I hardly ever need to fallback on an old one)

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## dylix

like a few people i've seen say, anytime a new stable version is released.

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## NoAngel

I'm upgrading every time when kernel version number changes in third number (for example, 2.6.25 -> 2.6.26), but I think, it's better to wait for some time after new version is released. If critical bugs/security issues will be found soon (next day, next week) after release, it's better to wait util hotfixes will be released.

I think, it's better not upgrade kernel on servers frequently, test it very well on another PC before use, or just wait long time enough after release.

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## poly_poly-man

whew... just updated to 2.6.26 (my brand new sixaxis controller needing hidraw pushed me over...)

That was... annoying  :Very Happy: 

BTW, where are the KVM modules? Previously, I had been using ones provided by some package... I forget which (it's been so long  :Very Happy: )

poly-p man

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## gringo

i update only if i see better / newer support for my harwdare, if they add that feature i´ve been dreaming off or if i want to play around a bit.

 *Quote:*   

> where are the KVM modules? 

 

Virtualization support, but they are in portage too.

cheers

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## i92guboj

I don't use any gentoo sources, just because:

1.- it's a hassle

2.- I don't like wasting bandwidth, and I do use patches, they exist for a reason after all

Minor updates are a few kb's, and at most, the bigger updates are a few MB's, which is much better than downloading +40mb for the whole thing. I usually update as soon as a new stable version is released, just for the sake of security and bugfixes. 

However, I fail to see the difficulty of the thing once you have a working kernel. You just copy the .config file to the new tree, "make oldconfig && make && make install modules_install". After that you adjust your grub.conf conveniently and re-emerge any external driver against the new kernel (for example, nvidia-drivers). Then, reboot.

PS. I build the thing on my home, you only need root permissions to make install modules_install. I conveniently symlink /usr/src/linux to $HOME/kernel/linux so the drivers like nvidia-driver can be built.

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## poly_poly-man

 *i92guboj wrote:*   

> However, I fail to see the difficulty of the thing once you have a working kernel. You just copy the .config file to the new tree, "make oldconfig && make && make install modules_install". After that you adjust your grub.conf conveniently and re-emerge any external driver against the new kernel (for example, nvidia-drivers). Then, reboot.

 

Works between little versions - likely to screw up betweent 2.6.21 and 2.6.26 - took a few tries (and openrc is pissing me off - always takes a few shots to boot... what happened to the *old* rc system?)

poly-p man

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## i92guboj

 *poly_poly-man wrote:*   

>  *i92guboj wrote:*   However, I fail to see the difficulty of the thing once you have a working kernel. You just copy the .config file to the new tree, "make oldconfig && make && make install modules_install". After that you adjust your grub.conf conveniently and re-emerge any external driver against the new kernel (for example, nvidia-drivers). Then, reboot. 
> 
> Works between little versions - likely to screw up betweent 2.6.21 and 2.6.26 - took a few tries (and openrc is pissing me off - always takes a few shots to boot... what happened to the *old* rc system?)
> 
> poly-p man

 

Never had a problem (except one time when the IDE stuff got changed to another location), though I admit that it's possible to have problems (which is why having a backup of your latest working kernel is a good thing). However, the critical things do not change their location without a good reason. And most times, only the chipset driver and the filesystem stuff is critical. The rest can be configured afterwards if something fails.

The old rc system got substituted with the update to baselayout 2.x, just like portage 1.x got substituted with portage 2.x, it's a natural thing. The migration procedure is safe enough, emerge tells you to do so when you emerge baselayout 2.x, and the documentation is very good. However, this is completely unrelated to the kernel, the rc system gets into scene when the kernel is already loaded and init is launched.

However, baselayout is in ~arch, so, if we keyworded it on a voluntary basis, then we can't complain, can we?   :Razz: 

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## Cyker

I'm interested in the stability of the sky2 drivers so I do update fairly regularly. This is balanced by the fact that I seldomly reboot this server 'tho, so the actual version depends on what the last one I prepared was  :Razz: 

Curiously, the my kernel has grown by just over 200KB despite minimal option changes, so it no longer fits in my CPU caches  :Razz: 

Haven't tried openrc yet. I'm an "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" person (Is also the reason I'm sticking with the BLK drivers for my IDE stuff and avoiding the libata except for SATA things.)

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## eccerr0r

I'm fairly lazy when it comes to kernel upgrades, mostly try to stay within a few versions of current, and if failing that, individual patches to fix specific issues.  Mostly it's driver issues that I upgrade, else security upgrades.

My PVR I've had a tough time getting my video tuner card to work along with ACPI, and I'm still at 2.6.21 because it was hacked and works, but I also applied the vmsplice patch so it should be safe....

My server is at 2.6.25.6, which was the latest when I decided I really needed to fix the vmsplice problem.

My ia64 machine is at 2.6.26, since armin76 wanted me to test it  :Very Happy: 

A bunch of my other machines have other misc versions on it, depending when was the last time I felt like recompiling...

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## jormartr

I am using openvz at home, so I just update when a new 2.6.24 testing kernel is released. I don't think a new kernel version will be used near in the time, but 2.6.24 is just enough to make all my hardware work. The stable openvz is under 2.6.18, and it does not support my computer.

2.6.24 openvz patched kernel is masked, but works well for me.

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## smurfer

Hi everyone,

I'm using tuxonice-sources and usually update if a new stable version is available, as also some others mentioned before. I think using "make oldconfig" is quite easy. If something is broken afterwards I can figure out the reason quickly. The more releases I miss, the more complicated it gets to solve problems, because of dependencies and side effects.

Well, I also like testing new features, schedulers, drivers...   :Smile: 

Cheers, smurfer

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## micko

I update the kernel on my desktop every time I reboot.

~$ uptime

19:43:45 up 20 days,  1:49

Hmh... Wasn't actually what I wanted to show. =) I assumed a little longer uptime.

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## F_

I usually update to every stable version.

# genkernel --menuconfig all

what could be easier?  :Smile: 

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## drescherjm

At home on the main machine I have been stuck at 2.6.24 for 4 months or more since I use an openvz kernel and the 2.6.26 version is not stable yet. And I mean my version of stable not the gentoo or openvz definition of stable...

For the laptop, I have been doing a log of kernel changes since hibernation (which never worked in the past) started working then broke.

At work I rarely update kernels but I am anxiously waiting for a working (my stable again) 2.6.26 openvz kernel so that I can mount samba DFS under gentoo using CIFS. 2.6.26 is the first kernel version where this has worked for me. Before this version all I got in the dfs folder was the symbolic links.

Also the old mythtv master backend. I had a 2.6.13 kernel installed for 15 or so months as to not disturb the fully working ivtv driver. The machine had a year of uptime before it died. And it looks like the problem was a shorted/melted wire to a 80mm fan on a hard drive cage. I found that out months later while trying to claim some of the parts for a new build..

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