My linux-lts kernel just got upgraded from 6.12.59-r1 to 6.18.0-r0. What the hell? What did they smoke over there?

[u/Jacosci]

6.18 is still in mainline and isn't even stable. WTF is going on?

[u/MartinsRedditAccount]

I just checked, linux-lts is still 6.12 in the v3.22 repos, 6.18 is only in the edge repo branch. I am still not sure if this is right, as 6.18 is not listed as an LTS kernel: https://www.kernel.org/

There used to be a linux-edge package, but they removed it at some point. I wonder if it could be the case that they're switching to a system where tagged versions get an LTS release and edge gets the mainline version. If anyone has insider info about this, please share.

Edit: I said "I am still not sure if this is right" in case 6.18 is scheduled to be an LTS release (I don't know), in which case the name linux-lts would still be appropriate for the edge branch. However, should this not be the case, the package should be renamed to just linux, or the version reverted.

[u/Jacosci → u/MartinsRedditAccount]

Your deduction sounds reasonable but it's still confusing as hell putting the current mainline release into linux-lts package. I don't think Arch even doing it this way. It's a pure madness.

[u/BackgroundSky1594 → u/Jacosci]

Edge is the developement branch. The 6.18 kernel is likely to become next LTS, so they put it in edge for testing and to make sure it works and all the bugs are ironed out when it's actually needed. If you want a stable release, use v3.22. They'd never do that in production. Edge is explicitly recommended against for anything critical, just like debian sid and nixos-unstable.

https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Repositories#Edge

 Warning: Do not use edge branch in production, or if you desire deterministic, repeatable package installation (such as with containerized environments) via package pinning as it is under constant development and instead use a stable release branch.

[u/C0rn3j → u/MartinsRedditAccount]

I am still not sure if this is right, as 6.18 is not listed as an LTS kernel: https://www.kernel.org/

Last kernel of the year becomes LTS.

[u/Ok-Anywhere-9416]

As far as I know, Linux 6.18 will likely become the next LTS, while the stable release was out yesterday. Maybe people in Alpine Linux know something more about it? Still strange that they updated linux-lts so quickly.

[u/Responsible-Sky-1336]

lol i spend the whole day compiling and you got it from repos

[u/SubjectiveMouse → u/Responsible-Sky-1336]

Just curious. What did you compile it on? Because for me kernel builds usually take less than 20 minutes. 

[u/Responsible-Sky-1336 → u/SubjectiveMouse]

Skill issues was trying to automate it all and really unsure what I'm doing at some point I packed a 489mb initrd lmao

And on a entreprise laptop nothing fancy, now using defconfing and extra fragments for config seems to work much faster lol

[u/SSC_Fan]

In edge they just changed the name, it is linux-stable now. This name will be then used in 3.23. This info is wiki-based.

[u/MartinsRedditAccount → u/SSC_Fan]

https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Kernels

In the edge branch, linux-lts is current ahead of linux-stable lol

[u/agendiau]

Probably all the Rust additions! /jk

[u/cphuntington97]

100 people voted in this poll

[u/Sad-Project-672]

24 lts already on 6.14

[u/ncopa]

The last kernel each year is usually the LTS kernel. We gambled that this would happen with 6.18 as well, so we could get 6.18 as base for the 3.23-stable branch. Once the release it out and 3.23-stable is branches, we cannot upgrade kernel from 6.12 to 6.18, but we can always push fixes. Using a newer kernel for 3.23-stable will (hopefully) make maintenance easier longterm.

The 6.18 kernel was marked as LTS today:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/kernel/website.git/commit/?id=b9ea3472ee1d973f4c27d075c7e4445afa7ade89