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The kernel is the opposite of a long running system. Developers are working on the master branch that is never run or deployed. Every 5 years or so, linux dist
by user5994461 6y ago
The kernel is the opposite of a long running system. Developers are working on the master branch that is never run or deployed.
Every 5 years or so, linux distributions will pick up the latest kernel version and ship it. To upgrade you have to reformat and reinstall your computer, there's no continuity of service, there's no upgrade path.
- bregma 6y agoThis does not match my lived experience over the last 25 years. I would argue from that that you are incorrect.
- ptx 6y agoWhat? To upgrade Debian (the archetypical stable distro) to a new release, you just do an "apt dist-upgrade": https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUpgrade https://wiki.debian.org/DebianUpgrade Minor patches to the Debian kernel are released all the time and you get those with a regular "apt upgrade". With Arch and other rolling-release distros, you get major new kernel versions all the time as part of the normal package upgrade flow.
- stjohnswarts 6y ago>>Every 5 years or so, linux distributions will pick up the latest kernel version and ship it. To upgrade you have to reformat and reinstall your computer, there's no continuity of service, there's no upgrade path. What in the world are you talking about? Distros are constantly pulling versions of Linux kernel from "master" tweaking it a little bit for their system and shipping it. Most at least a few times a year.