Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Likely To Ship With Linux 5.4 As Opposed To 5.5

[TemplarGR]

In my opinion Ubuntu should stop making every 4th version of their distro an LTS version only, and instead each 2 years offer both a "normal" version with bleeding edge software and an LTS version like they do now. LTS software is fine and dandy for server and some production work but for normal desktop use cases it makes absolutely no sense.

It is not like this will increase their workload by a lot, i mean most of the work they are doing between the 2 versions would be common, they would release the exact same LTS distro they are doing now but with a more recent kernel/mesa and other software. It is not a huge amount of work and people will get the benefit of both worlds.

In any case, i think most knowledgeable Linux users should have migrated to ArchLinux by now. Arch is really easy to install and configure these days for those who need to be on the bleeding edge without having to add ppas.

[schmidtbag]

In my opinion Ubuntu should stop making every 4th version of their distro an LTS version only, and instead each 2 years offer both a "normal" version with bleeding edge software and an LTS version like they do now. LTS software is fine and dandy for server and some production work but for normal desktop use cases it makes absolutely no sense.

I think they could take an even simpler approach:
Release an LTS version once every 2 years, but offer a rolling release repository (kinda like Debian Sid) that is easy for users to switch to. The installer could even ask the user if that's what they're looking for, and give reasons why or why not to use it. That way everyone gets what they want, the upgrade schedule becomes less tedious, and it's less work for Canonical.

[jrdoane]

I can't say that this bothers me. I usually don't have an issue running mainline kernel builds on Ubuntu 18.04, particularly if I stay away from early release candidates.

[Britoid]

I think they could take an even simpler approach:
Release an LTS version once every 2 years, but offer a rolling release repository (kinda like Debian Sid) that is easy for users to switch to. The installer could even ask the user if that's what they're looking for, and give reasons why or why not to use it. That way everyone gets what they want, the upgrade schedule becomes less tedious, and it's less work for Canonical.

On a non-LTS distro it's less work to keep with the latest kernel because you don't have to worry about backporting patches. This is one reason why Fedora tries to keep up to the latest kernel as much as possible and the kernel shouldn't make breaking changes to to other software.

[L_A_G]

Yes, we understand it is LTS, but are you forgetting that there isn't yet another Ubuntu version with newer packages? Although I don't have any AMD hardware in need of the 5.5 or 5.6 kernel, I do have an ARM laptop that is. For people like myself, a kernel with more hardware functionality is more desirable than a kernel of unknown stability.

Normally I'd agree with you about just switching to another distro, but in my case, Arch doesn't work properly on my laptop.

You do understand that there are plenty of other distros than Arch and Ubuntu? Even if that was the case all you need to do is wait for the next Ubuntu distro until you get a non-LTS one and after that the next two will also be non-LTS. The fact that 1 in 4 releases are ones that don't push the envelope in terms of the latest versions of various components is hardly much of an issue.

Besides, if what you're describing is true and you can at least get a 5.4 kernel to boot then updating to a newer mainline kernel is just 5 minutes of work, if even that. Like I said, my main use Linux setup is whatever the latest LTS release is with the kernel swapped out for a newer mainline release. You get some genuine improvements and then you get around some of the more baffling changes Canonical makes when they take out things like the xpad controller driver because it's name clashes with some application that emulates the functionality of post-it notes.

[anarki2]

That's a rather irrelevant argument given the fact that HWE and HWE-Edge kernels exist.

[schmidtbag]

You do understand that there are plenty of other distros than Arch and Ubuntu? Even if that was the case all you need to do is wait for the next Ubuntu distro until you get a non-LTS one and after that the next two will also be non-LTS. The fact that 1 in 4 releases are ones that don't push the envelope in terms of the latest versions of various components is hardly much of an issue.

Yes? But sometimes, Ubuntu is literally the only viable/sensible option for someone, like in my case. I would so much rather be using something like Debian or Arch but as of right now, the amount of effort to get those to work on my laptop just isn't worth it. Sometimes Ubuntu is the only choice if you don't have the time, resources, and/or knowledge to get something running on an obscure platform.

Besides, if what you're describing is true and you can at least get a 5.4 kernel to boot then updating to a newer mainline kernel is just 5 minutes of work, if even that. Like I said, my main use Linux setup is whatever the latest LTS release is with the kernel swapped out for a newer mainline release. You get some genuine improvements and then you get around some of the more baffling changes Canonical makes when they take out things like the xpad controller driver because it's name clashes with some application that emulates the functionality of post-it notes.

I'm aware; I've done it myself. But it's still more tedious compared to how other distros do it, especially thanks to Ubuntu's short release cycle (just one more repo to maintain).

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Any source for this news? Can't find it in the article.

It's on the Ubuntu kernel mailing list

5.5, 5.6 or even later kernels will likely arrive with the 20.04.1 point release alongside 20.10

[L_A_G]

Yes? But sometimes, Ubuntu is literally the only viable/sensible option for someone, like in my case. I would so much rather be using something like Debian or Arch but as of right now, the amount of effort to get those to work on my laptop just isn't worth it. Sometimes Ubuntu is the only choice if you don't have the time, resources, and/or knowledge to get something running on an obscure platform.

So in other words you think it's reasonable to cause loads more issues for other people with something that's supposed to have as few of them as possible simply to support your personal extremely niche use case? Even when all you need to do is just wait for the next release and the two releases after that will also be suitable for your personal use case?

I don't like it when people throw around the term "entitled" willy-nilly like they do these days, but it's really the most accurate way I can describe your demands here.

I'm aware; I've done it myself. But it's still more tedious compared to how other distros do it, especially thanks to Ubuntu's short release cycle (just one more repo to maintain).

If you think something that takes 5 minutes upon install is too tedious, then you probably shouldn't have bothered with the ARM laptop altogether as I'm sure you're going to run into many more issues that are even more tedious to fix than that one 5 minute task.

[skeevy420]

some of the more baffling changes Canonical makes when they take out things like the xpad controller driver because it's name clashes with some application that emulates the functionality of post-it notes.

Is...Are you...Really? REALLY?!?!?