Ehhh not really. Linux is just generally bad about saying you should reboot when you really should reboot. For example if any of the commonly used libraries (li

Ehhh not really. Linux is just generally bad about saying you should reboot when you really should reboot. For example if any of the commonly used libraries (like gtk) are updated, you really really should reboot or you'll get random bugs and glitches. If you're running a server and you can be sure to do a full restart of that service including any other dependencies then sure. But isn't that functionally a reboot anyway? It's not like keeping just the kernel alive meaningfully changes anything. Your services were still interrupted.