Canonical Announces Livepatch Support for Ubuntu Hardware Enablement Kernels
Until now, Canonical offered its Livepatch service to Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) systems running the standard Linux kernel that came with the initial release. In case you didn’t know, Livepatch lets you apply Linux kernel updates on your Ubuntu system without restarting it for uninterrupted service and minimal downtime.
Of course, Livepatch makes sense mostly in Ubuntu Server installations, but it may also come in handy in mission-critical systems, and it’s supported for up to 10 years. Canonical offers the Livepatch service as part of its Ubuntu Pro offering, which is available for free for up to 5 computers or up to 50 machines for official Ubuntu Community members.
Neowin and OMG Ubuntu:
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Ubuntu Livepatch for HWE Linux kernels coming soon
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has announced that Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernels will receive updates via the Livepatch service, just like Long-Term Release (LTS) kernels. The first kernel to gain support will be Linux 6.2 which will ship with Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster next week before being made available as an HWE kernel in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS in July.
For those not familiar with Livepatch, it’s a service available to customers with an Ubuntu Pro subscription. If you don’t have a subscription it can be enabled on five of your personal machines. With this enabled, you are able to get the latest kernel updates installed on your computer without having to reboot. Linux kernel updates are one of the very few packages that typically require a restart in Ubuntu but with Livepatch there’s no need to restart.
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Canonical Bringing Livepatch Support to HWE Kernels
As spotted by our friends at Neowin, Canonical announced Livepatch support for Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernels starting this summer. The first HWE kernel being covered as part of this support extension is Linux 6.2, which will be backported from the Ubuntu 23.04 release and pushed out to users of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Livepatch is a feature only available on long-term support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu for users with an active Ubuntu Pro subscription. When enabled, Livepatch allows users to install kernel updates (on eligible machines) without needing to reboot after.
Extending the number of kernels covered by the feature is an important move, albeit one aimed at enterprise, server, and business customers. While being asked to reboot to finish applying kernel updates is common, it’s not something Ubuntu desktop users typically mind.