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This kernel update was pushed out on Monday, and I updated most of our systems to it.

Today I got around to updating the last system, and the kernel update was not available. It appears that it was yanked from the repos.

On the system I tried to update today:

apt policy linux-generic
linux-generic:
  Installed: 4.15.0.23.25
  Candidate: 4.15.0.23.25
  Version table:
 *** 4.15.0.23.25 500
        500 [my local mirror]

On the systems updated Monday

apt policy linux-generic
linux-generic:
  Installed: 4.15.0.24.26
  Candidate: 4.15.0.24.26
  Version table:
 *** 4.15.0.24.26 100
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Also my one remaining 16.04 system got this update Monday, and now it shows local/obsolete in synaptic.

enter image description here

Where can I see why this was done, and what are the consequences of remaining on this LTS kernel that was bad enough to be pulled back?

Related: Strategy to deal with Canonical's increasingly poor QA?

Organic Marble
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  • apt policy linux-generic shows 4.15.0.24.26 for both Installed and Candidate. – DK Bose Jul 04 '18 at 15:18
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    Interesting. I just tried a manual installation of the 24 kernel and it broke my VirtualBox setup I had. As far as the linux-generic is showing the highest version it wants to install is 23. The updates and security repos are enabled. – Terrance Jul 04 '18 at 15:55
  • Yes my experience today was the same as @Terrance . Running an apt-update/apt-upgrade did not install the new kernel, where as on Monday it did. – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 16:34
  • @Rinzwind synaptic shows linux-generic in the 'local/obsolete' category, and apt policy agrees, see edited question. – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 16:39
  • OrganicMarble, Which server are you using for your repositories? I do not see what you and @Terrance see. I see 4.15.0.24.26 both in an up to date Ubuntu, an up to date Lubuntu and a not fully up to date persistent live Lubuntu (all 18.04 LTS). And my VirtualBox is still working in the Ubuntu system. Maybe this is related to Long boot delay on Ubuntu .... – sudodus Jul 04 '18 at 17:38
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    @sudodus I think it has to do with when you upgraded. I am actually performing a clean install on a system right now to confirm this. There was a posting as well here where someone complained up upgrading to the 4.15.0-24 kernel and their system crashed. – Terrance Jul 04 '18 at 17:40
  • @Terrance, But in the persistent live Lubuntu, apt-cache also finds the candidate 4.15.0.24.26 – sudodus Jul 04 '18 at 17:42
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    @sudodus I have a local mirror that pulls from us.archive.ubuntu.com for my 18.04 systems. But note that on my one remaining 16.04 system, which does not use the mirror, the exact same thing happened. It got updated to the 4.15.0.24 kernel on Monday, and now that is showing local/obsolete in synaptic. – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 17:44
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    @OrganicMarble, I use a Swedish mirror for the installed systems and archive/ubuntu.com is used by the persistent live system – sudodus Jul 04 '18 at 17:47
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    The new kernel actually has worked OK for me, except that it broke Wake-on-LAN by design (https://askubuntu.com/questions/1051822/wake-on-lan-quit-working-with-latest-kernel-bionic) I'm just worried that all my systems are running on something they opted to pull back. – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 17:49
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    Yep, on a clean install right now it will only upgrade to 4.15.0-23. I do indeed have updates and security enabled on the clean install. – Terrance Jul 04 '18 at 17:54
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    Myself and many others have been having issues with Wi-Fi networks being found after updating to 14.15.0-24. I am attempting to fix the issue on my system right now... Probably have to go back to 23... Just a thought... May be why it was removed. – SudoSURoot Jul 04 '18 at 18:06
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    Now 'my' mirrors are downgraded to 4.15.0-23-25. Obviously they were slower than the US mirror. – sudodus Jul 04 '18 at 20:31
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    For anyone running the 4.15.0-24 kernel with Wifi issues, please see: https://askubuntu.com/a/1052418/231142 – Terrance Jul 05 '18 at 15:11

1 Answers1

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See the bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/bionic/+source/linux/+bug/1779827

Once this Critical bug was reported with enough detail, Canonical engineers and community volunteer testers bisected the problem and had a patch within 36 hours.

Note that this bug was critical, and worthy of pulling because booting at GRUB from previous kernels wasn't a viable workaround. Some folks reporting had to reinstall to restore functionality.

user535733
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    Interesting. I use lightdm and not gdm which may be why my systems didn't break. – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 18:41
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    @OrganicMarble I am going to agree with you. My systems that run LightDM have been working fine. My VirtualBox runs GDM and it crashed when I installed the 24. – Terrance Jul 04 '18 at 18:43
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    @OrganicMarble, Just to add confusion: I have gdm in Ubuntu and lightdm in Lubuntu and both are working with 4.15.0.24.26. But I understand from the current bug reports, that several systems are affected by very serious problems. (And the mirrors are not updated at the same time, which can explain why we have seen different versions.) – sudodus Jul 04 '18 at 20:13
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    @sudodus Indeed, there are many variables. At first I thought my last system wasn't being updated because it was 32 bit... – Organic Marble Jul 04 '18 at 20:47