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Why upgrade the kernel?

May 14th, 2012 - 12:44 pm ET by barnabyh | Report spam
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Hi all,

a little more than a week ago I successfully compiled Linux 2.6.39.4 with
the config provided in Slackware 13.37 for a huge-smp kernel. For me that
is still cause for celebration. Managed to trim it down to 4.8MB (the
stock one is 5.6) but did not feel like spending too much time on the
trimming process. Nice to know that disabling relatively few drivers and
a group like Joysticks can have such effect!

Tests since then have shown it to work in all aspects, as hoped for, and
now I can even use brcmsmac firmware files (imported from an extracted
Debian package) to connect instead of using broadcom-wl from Slackbuilds,
as good as that was,

While it was fun to attempt this once again and succeed, I'm asking
myself whether upgrading the kernel is really necessary.
2.6.39 is old now as well, is there any other benefit to using the latest
if all your hardware is supported and working fine? I mean what's the
point if theoretically I can go on using this setup for another five
years until when ever this machine dies with all my stuff working.

Is it that vulnerabilities are discovered and always fixed in the newest
kernel, which would make it prudent to always run the very latest, or is
it merely a question of inclusion of new drivers and ever greater
hardware support?
If anything serious was discovered I suppose Pat would issue a patch like
he did with 12.2.

As I'm running this on a laptop with AlienBOB's efg firewall script and
no open ports, is there a benefit to using the latest 3.x kernels or can
I just as well stick to what I've got, a la if it ain't broke...?

TIA

Barnaby
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#1 Michael Black
May 14th, 2012 - 12:54 pm ET | Report spam
On Mon, 14 May 2012, barnabyh wrote:


While it was fun to attempt this once again and succeed, I'm asking
myself whether upgrading the kernel is really necessary.
2.6.39 is old now as well, is there any other benefit to using the latest
if all your hardware is supported and working fine? I mean what's the
point if theoretically I can go on using this setup for another five
years until when ever this machine dies with all my stuff working.



There's three reasons the kernel is constantly upgrading. One is to fix
bugs, I suspect many that get reported are a result of recent additions
rather than the core kernel. Of course, this also includes security
fixes, though those are routinely issued as fixes to fix up older kernels.

Another reason is new features. That likely has flattened tremendously in
the past decade or so. Initially the kernel was simple and more added to
get it up to speed, but there's less and less "new features" as time goes
by.

The third reason is to adapt to new hardware. This may be the biggest
cause of additions, and bloat, to the kernel. Originally the kernel could
handle only very specific and generic hardware, while there are a lot more
drivers as time goes by. These won't mean a thing unless you are actually
adding new hardware that isnt' in the kernel you are currently using.

If the kernel works as is on your computer, there's virtually no reason to
upgrade, except for security patches. If you are changing to a more
recent computer, you may need a more recent kernel.

Some people just upgrade routinely, just because.

Others don't. I'm still using Slackware 12.0 and the 2.6.21.5 kernel.
I've had no problem, so I've never fussed. Admittedly some of it is just
getting around to it, it's no idealogy against upgrading, just not in a
hurry. I discovered a few weeks ago that I actually have a 12.2 DVD, I
cant' remember why I got that but didn't install it. At this point, I
might as well get 13.37.

Michael

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