Why would it be in my interest to upgrade my kernel

Support Kernel
1

I currently use kernel 5.15.78-1. The other kernels have been sitting there in my system settings tempting me. I like the idea of a newer kernel, but I don’t know if it would actually be useful to me.

I run a somewhat old thinkpad, and don’t play any games. Besides konsole, the only two programs I ever use are Firefox and Vim. My laptop is basically just a type writer that can google things. Do I have a reason to upgrade my kernel, or am I just inviting new problems for no reason?

I’m gonna be honest and say that I don’t really know what a kernel is or why its important.

2

Hi @toomanyjoints69,

Not really, no.

Not neccessareily.

Since 5.15 is the current LTS version, it’s best if you stick with it if you don’t have any problems or require a specific feature of a newer one.

For more info:

https://kernel.org/

Edit:

That said, since Manjaro supports having multiple kernels installed, it’s perfectly fine to have a later one installed, to test with. But then kernel maintenance needs to happen more regularly.

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3

I’m gonna be honest and say if you want to know something in this day and age then open a browser and google it.

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4

Thank you for this information and reading material

5

To answer you topic title - none - if your system is working as expected - no reason at all.

The same situation if you run a custom kernel built specifically for your system.

Conceptually there is three components

  1. A core set of system packages
  2. A kernel - and drivers
  3. The rest - depending on system usage
    • applications
    • gui (xorg or wayland)
    • window manager
    • a set of matching gui packages usually called a Desktop Environment

see the package lists in the root of your system

  • rootfs-pkgs.txt
    • includes the kernel but conceptually you can switch kernel
    • which makes the kernel a stand-alone component
  • desktopfs-pkgs.txt

I am currently using a custom kernel using the zen patchset and specifically targeting Intel cannonlake and x86-64-v3.

 $ uname -a
Linux tiger 6.0.10-zen2-1-zen-cannonlake #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue, 29 Nov 2022 09:37:22 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux
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6

That is AWESOME!!!

Thanks for the answer :heart_eyes:

7

Kernel is the first program that runs, executed by bootloader (jumps to the entry point, technically). Kernel is responsible for making your braindead hardware to live. It hosts most drivers for hardware, handles memory management, executes the init system, etc.

New kernels could mean:

  • New hardware drivers, as well as deprecated/obsolete ones
  • New architecture support, as well as deprecated/obsolete ones
  • New security mitigation that must be handled by software
  • New scheduler
  • New features
  • Performance change

and many more.

Read the wikipedia article posted by @Mirdarthos above.

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