Linode Kernels deprecated?
So I found this while trying to enable zram on my (rather old) Arch VPS, it's been set to use "Latest 64 bit" kernel since day 1. Trying to enable the module printed an error about being unable to find it on disk for kernel 6.2, which is quite old now so I assumed it'd just been too long since I restarted the VPS.
However when I restarted it, I found it was still running on 6.2, and checking the list of kernel versions provided by Linode, I discovered that the "Latest" option hasn't changed in a year and is stuck at 6.2. Even the newest manual versions provided are outdated, upstream LTS is 6.6 at the time of writing, but Linode only offers up to 6.4.
If these have been deprecated by Linode then I can't find any mention of that anywhere, nothing in email, no messages in the cloud console. The only bit of information I can find is a couple of lines in a "Manage the Kernel" doc that says the default option changed to grub in August 2018.
It's possible I just missed it, but if so I can't help but wonder how many others also missed it and are running on a year out of date kernel.
2 Replies
CassandraD
Linode Staff
✓ Best Answer
The Latest Linode Kernel is still being updated. That said, sometimes it is not the actual newest kernel available because we may keeping using one that works best for the most customers, even after a new one is released. While I can say that it will be updated in the future, we don't have an exact date.
That said, this might be a situation where using the GRUB2 bootloader to load the upstream kernel might work best. That is something you can update at any time for your instance which gives you more control.
That said, there a few things to consider when switching from our Kernel to the upstream kernel, which you can read about here:
Before you make any changes, I recommend taking steps to backup your data in case the transition doesn't go smoothly.
I actually already switched my VPS over, but thanks.
I'm just glad it hasn't been forgotten about.