4

I just discovered that HardWare Enablement (HWE) kernel exists and I really like this idea. I am just not sure if it make sense to use the linux-generic-hwe-20.04 kernel on non LTS versions (e.g. 20.10, 21.04, etc). Will the linux-generic-hwe-20.04 always be most recent kernel available on the repo? If not, will the package manager automatically switch to the newest kernel provided by the non LTS version?

While I'm writing, linux-generic-hwe-20.04 and linux-generic seems to be on the same version on Ubuntu 20.10 but I'm not sure what it will happen in the next months (my wish is to always have the most recent of the two).

Improve this question
4
  • Thing is, you may want to consider your options. Nothing wrong with HWE per-se. But if you have an AMD graphics adapter, for example, only the bare minimum of functionality comes with the upstreamed driver. And while there are some more open source components in the package from AMD, there are also proprietary ones. Now the issue is that the parts interfacing with your kernel (the kernel modules) will be tied to a specific range of kernel versions decided by the vendor (AMD in this case). Similar scenarios exist for other stuff, so unless your old kernel lacks support, stick with non-HWE.
    – 0xC0000022L
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:16
  • The HWE allows LTS releases to use the later non-LTS kernels, so your question appears backward to me. Ubuntu 20.10 with the 5.8 kernel came in 2020-October (thus 20.10), but the 5.8 kernel only hit edge for focal or 20.04 about a week ago, and doesn't hit stable until shortly in the future (my 20.04 systems are still on 5.4 or the stable kernel). Key point is non-LTS releases get the kernel first, the HWE project allows the LTS release to get the features of the later kernel after the non-LTS had it (keeping the LTS as stable as it can be!)
    – guiverc
    Jan 10, 2021 at 21:06
  • Ubuntu wiki's on the concept are wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/RollingLTSEnablementStack (they are found in answers I note, but they are where I'd recommend getting detail from. Site like this are great when you can't make sense of official docs, you still have questions, or fear they are dated (bottom right shows last editor & edit date) or still want/need user support (ie. I prefer official docs as my primary source).
    – guiverc
    Jan 10, 2021 at 21:19
  • Incorrect. Having upgraded to 21.04, 20.04-hwe header and image are still included in official repo.
    – funicorn
    Mar 24, 2021 at 9:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

You can't use linux-generic-hwe-20.04 package on Ubuntu 20.10, because there should not be such package in the 20.10 repos. But it appears that someone has added it I guess erroneously, unless it has been added for compatibility during 20.04 -> 20.10 upgrade.

The HWE concept is applicable only to LTS releases. The idea is to bring the kernel from 20.10 to 20.04.

Ubuntu 20.10 has the same kernel 5.8 as the HWE kernel for 20.04. Ubuntu 20.10 will reach it's End of Life in July '21 and won't get any new major kernel.

So you either use non-LTS releases and upgrade them every 6-9 months, or use an LTS release with HWE kernels. That will give almost same results in terms of kernel versions.

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    Really? packages.ubuntu.com/…
    – N0rbert
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:06
  • Hm... I think someone has made a mistake and added this package to all sorts of wrong places.
    – Pilot6
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:07
  • Or maybe it is a dummy for upgrade purposes.
    – Pilot6
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:09
  • I think the main point is the package is trying to express. So once 21.04 gets released with, say, kernel 5.15, the meaning of linux-generic-hwe-20.04 may get updated to refer to that newer version eventually. This is somewhat akin to installing a linux-image-virtual instead of linux-image-generic because certain "facilities" needn't be supported on virtual "hardware" typically.
    – 0xC0000022L
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:13
  • 1
    It shouldn't be updated in 20.10. If it really does, that will mean that something is fundamentally wrong. There is no sense to upgrade a kernel in non-LTS release in a couple of months before End of Life.
    – Pilot6
    Jan 10, 2021 at 20:17

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .