Why? How am I supposed to always get the latest version without manually switching from 510 to 511?
Arch has simply linux without version numbers in the package name, linux-latest was the nearest thing to it in Manjaro.
Same for linux-latest-nvidia to keep Nvidia drivers always up to date, dropped shortly after (without notice?). Manjaro maintainers have even downgraded linuxXX-nvidia from v465 to v460, without a proper replacement for v465
Because it, and all it’s extra modules, was not kept up to date.
You don’t. Switching kernel series should be a user action on Manjaro. If you want rolling kernels, Manjaro is not for you. Try either Arch Linux or other Arch based distros for that.
Manjaro supports having multiple kernels installed.
Arch does not. So on Arch, you pick a kernel package, and that kernel package keeps rolling.
On Manjaro, the kernel packages are split into kernel series versions.
So linux54, linux510, linux511 and linux512 are each a kernel series and you can have them all installed on your Manjaro install and switch between them in Grub at boot time.
The Manjaro Team decided, a long time ago I guess, that switching kernel series should be a user action, so the user knows exactly what kernel series they are running. Decision was probably based on user feedback about old hardware and stuff.
The linux-latest meta package was introduced some time ago, to make sure people where not running on EOL (End of Life) kernels, but to make sure they where always on a kernel that was supported upstream. A linux-lts meta package was also created to have the same, just with only LTS based kernels.
But, these meta packages was not being kept up to date, so people just got stuck on EOL kernels again.
Keeping a meta kernel package up to date in Manjaro, also requires to keep the extra-modules packages up to date for it.
I believe it was just not something the team had time for anymore, so they dropped these meta kernel packages.
Thanks for the explanation, just a couple more questions
Never been on Arch, so I’m not sure what you mean with “kernel package” if the version is incremented by the maintainers.
I don’t really understand what “linux-latest” was except for a pointer to linux510 (when it was discontinued) and, if it is just that, why it would be difficult to maintain.
I think it was also creating more confusion and problems than anything else.
It’s not that easy, especially with those nvidia modules and stuff.
Imho that was the correct decision. Leave it up to the users to decide what kernel fit’s best for them.
You see quite some posts from people who switch back to earlier kernel series because of some quirks introduced with newer ones… (at least for some time until things are fixed)
I have manjaro notifier installed ( msm_notifier --settings) , its in the repos. It notifies me when a new kernel is available, I got a notification yesterday telling me kernel 5.12 was available so it does still work
Arch has a coupleof different ones in their repo (linux and linux-lts at least) and many more in the AUR.
Each of them will roll through different kernel series as time goes on.
So even if you stick to linux-lts in Arch, you just made the switch from kernel 5.4 to 5.10.
It was a meta package to point to the latest stable kernel, which was 5.10 when the package was declared unmaintained.
It’s difficult to maintain, because you need to fix and build all the extra kernel modules Manjaro provides with their kernels to yet another kernel package, called linux-latest instead of linux510, since all the modules are built against specific kernel versions.
to be honest, like a normal user of manjaro, coming from arch. I prefer to use Linux-latest, okey, let’s say I prefered to use Linux-latest than to pick manually the kernel I want.
So please, put it again xD…
I prefer the kernel rolling automatically than manually. I think there is no " confusion" on this, at least for me
And I prefer it the other way around. Instead of forcing me to use a specific version I want to decided myself when and if I want to switch to a newer kernel version.
It’s not that it costs you hours of work. Just a few clicks every ~2 months.
There was linux-latest pointing the latest available kernel (well, at least what manjaro considered to be the latest) and linux-lts pointing to the latest LTS kernel.
Why would linux-latest prevent you from doing this ?
Manjaro allows users to decide the kernel versions they want, but why should it force them to choose manually ?
I still don’t understand why some (either less experienced or lazier) users shouldn’t be able to rely on a metapackage which deals with kernel versions for them.
The reason is probably the difficulty of maintenance, but I’d really like it if someone could explain these difficulties.
Well, it would at least install a new kernel and remove the current one for me. What if I want to keep the previous one for some time, or don’t want to switch at all for the moment to wait a little longer until the new one matured a bit more…
Although by looking at the git history, I think they added replaces/conflicts only at some later point, like a month after the “depends” was changed. So the previous kernel was still kept for some time.
Yeah, good point. I see a lot of people using outdated kernel versions.
Well, they get a notification from MSM, but that is apparently not sufficient to trigger the people to install a new kernel.
From a pure technical standpoint it don’t think it is really a big job.
Just increasing the version number when a new kernel is out and then update the “eol” listing when a kernel is removed from the repo.
I’m not advocating for removing the traditional linux5nn packages, only maintaining linux-latest. You can simply uninstall linux-latest and manually install the linux5xx packages you desire.
Yeah, sure. I’m just wondering if having a linux-latest installed by default is the right thing.
Of course I can always opt-out by removing it to “regain control”.
But yeah maybe it is. Seeing the inxi's (and kernel versions) of some users here I more and more think it’s probably better to have them on linux-latest indeed.
But they drop it from the repos and I used this packages too, but now it’s okay for me upgrading stable kernels every 6 months. Or more (I use stable Branch on my Host System)
And I use always (If possible without issues) the latest LTS and Stable. because I use newer Hardware (Ryzen 9 3900X and RX 5700 XT ) not the newest but quite new
Unstable on an old ThinkPad T60 so more often Kernel upgrades.
And last but not least you can grep it from GitLab and maintain it by you own