Kernel 4* series are now dropped from Manjaro's repos?

[D.Dave]

While I was on Manjaro - Branch Compare I was looking for the Kernel 4.14 (linux414 package) and I noticed that the last one (as on Kernel.org) is 4.14.262, but available only for Stable branch:

(from Kernel.org)

(From Manjaro - Branch Compare)

And that the same is for any 4* Kernel: on Testing and Unstable Branch there are only available 5* Kernel. No longer Kernel 4*.

As I can see on the official Kernel Website (here: The Linux Kernel Archives - Releases), I see that 4* Kernel series are still supported for at least two years since now (4.14 and 4.19 until 2024):

(from Kernel.org)

So: what’s happened? My concern is about old hardware like mine (Ivy Bridge) which play fine with older Kernels, also by the fact that in the Upstream the 4* Kernels are still supported for the next years.

[Piscatorius]

If I remember correctly, the following Unstable Update post contains the announcement and the reason for the action.

[Unstable Update] 2021-12-13 - Python 3.10 Rebuilds

linux-firmware 20220119.0c6a7b3-2 requires kernel >=5.3 and package splitting 2022-01-21 - Andreas Radke The linux-firmware package 20220119.0c6a7b3-2 implements kernel firmware compression. Linux kernel from 5.3 on support loading from xz compressed firmware. CONFIG_FW_LOADER_COMPRESS kernel option must be enabled. All official Arch Linux kernel support this for a long time. [1] The linux-firmware package has been split into smaller packages to further reduce require…

[CarlLaFong]

My Ivy Bridge laptop runs KDE perfectly fine using the latest stable 5.16 kernel but of course as with all things Linux YMMV.

[anon59284200]

Unless your hardware is SUPER old, it should run fine with one of the 5.x kernels supported by Manjaro.

[D.Dave]

@CarlLaFong

but of course as with all things Linux YMMV.

@anon59284200

Unless your hardware is SUPER old, it should run fine with one of the 5.x kernels supported by Manjaro.

I installed Manjaro on February 2019: during these years I tried various times 5* Kernels,: I can’t say that they play bad, but I found that 4* series make the environment snappier, eg lower boot time, greater disk I/O (not placebo, I made test with dd and with other benchmarks tools); furthermore with 5* Kernels the suspend-to-ram is unreliable and the battery life is worse: this is the reason why I have keep Kernel 4.14.
The last thing is that 5* Kernel for an unkwon reason won’t build a dkms module (8814au - wifi adapter).

Despite the linux-firmware reason I can’t get the fact that on Kernel.org, 4.* kernels are still supported until 2024; can’t Manjaro reserve or indicate a way to circumvent this? If i correctly underestand, an user can install linux-firmware-whence (obviously at his own risk since is from AUR).

[pheiduck]

My ThinkPad T60 from my dad, run fine on 5.10 and newer but I will stick on 5.10 for this Hardware until 5.10 gets EOL
Main Hardware run 5.15 I don’t want the hustle with the stable Kernels again

[anon59284200]

Debian stable, which is rather conservative, ships with kernel 5.10.

[clmbtti]

@D.Dave

a way to circumvent this

You can try searching for both your kernel and linux-firmware-uncompressed on aur.

[Yochanan]

@D.Dave

I can’t get the fact that on Kernel.org, 4.* kernels are still supported until 2024

Arch only supports the latest LTS (5.15) and latest stable (5.16) kernels. Manjaro currently supports all the 5.x series kernels. We haven’t shipped an ISO with 4.x kernels in awhile.

If you would like to continue using 4.x, you’ll have to build it yourself or find a distro that supports that series. Understand that building and maintaining kernels takes time and effort.

@D.Dave

linux-firmware-whence

That’s the license package for linux-firmware in the core repo, nothing to do with the AUR.

@clmbtti

You can try searching for both your kernel and linux-firmware-uncompressed on aur.

Neither of which are supported on Manjaro.

[D.Dave]

I choose this reply as solution just because it simply and straightly answer the question in the subject.

For the rest I choosed to upgrade to/ and stay with Kernel 5.10.

[pheiduck]

Future LTS Kernels will be supported at least 2 or 4 years:

Panel Discussion: Super Long Term Kernel Maintenance

[anon59284200]

Just because the older kernels are still supported by the Kernel team does not mean they are compatible with Arch Linux. Arch supports kernels 5.3 and up. The same applies to Manjaro, which is based on Arch. You probably won’t find a currently-supported Linux distro that provides such an old kernel branch.