I'm a little confused by Ubuntu/Linux kernel updates. Coming from a Windows background I sort of expect all updates to be available via the update manager, in the case of Ubuntu apt/aptitude.
Yet if I look at the kernel versions of all our servers (around 60 of them) I see many have different kernels between 3.13.0-24-generic and 3.13.0-52-generic even though they are all running Ubuntu 14.04.2.
If I login to a server with 3.13.0-24-generic running and run an upgrade, no updates to the kernel are offered.
Why don't new kernel versions get installed / applied with an apt-get upgrade and why doesn't a do-release-upgrade update the kernel the same (latest) kernel?
Can someone give a little background on how linux/ubuntu kernel updates work?
Note, I am running apt-get update before apt-get upgrade yet no kernel updates are installed.
Many thanks!
Best Answer
Since the 4th number in a kernel version is usually considered a patch... I would assume that the system determined that you do not need THAT patch - ie the software installed on your system does not have the kernel patch version as a dependency. It also tells me that it is not a security update.
So, if no software depends on the 52 patch, and all software installed is fine with 24, then I assume it wont be installed and the system will leave the 24 kernel alone.