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If I recall correctly, I installed my system from 20.04 desktop installation CD. I have been applying updates as they come along. However, even though I have seen many updates, I have not seen any updates for the kernel, which seems quite strange. Here's what I currently have

$ lsb_release --a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS
Release:        20.04
Codename:       focal

$ uname -a
Linux abysss 5.4.0-64-generic #72-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 15 10:27:54 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:2 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease

Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease

Hit:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/yubico/stable/ubuntu focal InRelease

Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.


$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree

Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libhidapi-hidraw0 libllvm10 libstartup-notification0 libu2f-host0 libu2f-server0
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Can it really be true that there have been no updates to the kernel since January?

Paul Grinberg
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  • Do you mean January 2021? Kernels do not get updates a lot. There is a 5.8 which would have been installed on your system if you are letting the updates install. 5.11 is expected to be in the new 21.04 in late April. – David Mar 20 '21 at 14:43
  • I see you have only done update. The upgrade command actually upgrades and installs the latest versions of packages that are already installed. Before going to upgrade the packages, check for the updates as follows. It will let the apt-get to know the new versions available. – David Mar 20 '21 at 14:45
  • @David, yes I do mean no updates since January 15, 2021. It's now mid March and I'm surprised that there have not been any security updates. According to dpkg -l |grep kernel | grep 5.8, I do not see any 5.8 kernels on my system and I do not believe I did anything to prevent it from being installed. Does 20.04 LTS actually provide LTS support for multiple kernel versions at the same time? – Paul Grinberg Mar 20 '21 at 14:47
  • On an Ubuntu LTS release, an LTS kernel version (such as 5.4 on Ubuntu 20.04), is usually used. While the major kernel version (5.x) is not often updated, instead, security updates and bugfixes for the current kernel are released (e.g. 5.4.0-xx). Alternatively, if you want a more up-to-date kernel, you can either upgrade to the interim release of Ubuntu (currently 20.10), or install a mainline kernel from the Ubuntu kernel ppa. – Daniel M. Mar 20 '21 at 14:49
  • Some users are forced to use the 5.4 kernel as the 5.8 does not work with their hardware. So yes. – David Mar 20 '21 at 14:49
  • You may find the answers to this question interesting. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1306358/how-do-stop-ubuntu-20-04-from-upgrading-to-the-5-8-hwe-kernel – David Mar 20 '21 at 14:54
  • Please add to your question the complete output of sudo apt upgrade also. – user535733 Mar 20 '21 at 15:13
  • @PaulGrinberg LTS releases get newer kernels backported via HWE. See LTSEnablementStack. Can you please confirm if you have linux-generic-hwe-20.04 installed? – Kulfy Mar 20 '21 at 15:17
  • One possibility is that you simply have not rebooted in many weeks. what's your uptime? My own frequently runs to 2-3 months before it occurs to me to reboot. – user535733 Mar 20 '21 at 15:21
  • @Kulfy - according to dpkg -l |grep linux-generic-hwe I do not have it installed. But why should I need HWE? – Paul Grinberg Mar 21 '21 at 17:10
  • If I understand your question correctly, you want to know why your system doesn't have a newer kernel. Is that right? If yes, please re-read my previous comment. – Kulfy Mar 27 '21 at 16:00

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