When is a new kernel released?

[Mario Vukelic]

On Thu, 2006-07-06 at 15:50 -0400, Ylan Segal wrote:
> What is the policy for releasing a new Ubuntu kernel version? Is it on a
> schedule? Is it only when a security fix is made?

Within a stable release cycle, that means as long as you are running
version 6.06 LTS (Dapper), the updates will only include security fixes,
and it will always be a 2.6.15.* kernel. This is done partly to provide
a stable kernel ABI (so that modules don't have to be recompiled) and
because switching to a newer kernel, like 2.6.16, is a major change that
can break many machines. In addition it might even require changes in
the infrastructure around the kernel.

A while ago there was a discussion on some mailing list about a possible
kernel upgrade through the dapper-backports repository, but as far as I
remember, it seemed unlikely due to the complexity.

Version 6.10 (Edgy Eft), out in October 06, will have a 2.6.17 kernel.

I don't know what is needed if you want to do it manually with
kernel.org sources. Probably a lot of reading :)