Transitional kernel packages

[Nils Kassube]

Ralf Mardorf wrote:
> while I understand what a transitional package usually is good for, I
> don't understand what those linux-*-lts-releasename packages are good
> for:
> 
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?suite=xenial&section=all&arch=any&ke
> ywords=linux-generic-lts&searchon=names
> http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?suite=xenial&section=all&arch=any&k
> eywords=linux-lowlatency-lts&searchon=names
> 
> Could somebody please explain the reason for this ongoing
> "transition"?

If you use a LTS release like 14.04 there will be hardware enablement 
packages available which are backports from later releases like 14.10, 
15.04, etc. which let you use hardware which was not usable with the 
original packages for 14.04. But the rest of the system would stay the 
current release (14.04). The kernel meta packages would be named 
according to the release from which they were backported like "linux-
generic-lts-wily". If I would use this backported kernel, I would of 
course uninstall the "linux-generic" package to avoid downloading the 
extra packages which would never be used again. After the upgrade to a 
new LTS release I would need a package which now replaces these 
backported packages to the kernel package of the new release, which 
would be "linux-generic".


Nils