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How can I determine which Ubuntu distribution support Kernel 3.16? Is there a table or spreadsheet link somewhere which list ALL of the various Ubuntu distributions to date and the Linux Kernel versions they support? Thanks...

user786069
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  • See this link (scroll down), http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life – sudodus Jan 22 '18 at 18:21
  • Thank you! The link above contains the exact content I was looking for. – user786069 Jan 22 '18 at 18:29
  • @sudodus you should write it as a proper answer so that user788069 could validate it and close the question. – Patrick Mevzek Jan 22 '18 at 18:45
  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/517136/list-of-ubuntu-versions-with-corresponding-linux-kernel-version/517140#517140 @PatrickMevzek we already have that ;) – Rinzwind Jan 22 '18 at 19:38
  • @Rinzwind then this question should be closed as duplicate – Patrick Mevzek Jan 22 '18 at 19:42
  • Vote to Reopen. The duplicate implies OP should install EOL Ubuntu 14.10 to use kernel 3.16 which is non-starter for most. The duplicate only lists which Kernel versions were supported when various Ubuntu versions were initially released but newer kernel versions were automatically update. For kernel 3.16 at Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS users were downgraded to kernel 4.13 as my answer below quotes Pilot6. Lastly the duplicate doesn't address manually installing Kernel 3.16 and staying updated on the 3.16 LTS kernel chain. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 26 '18 at 00:39

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No Ubuntu versions automatically update 3.16 kernel

As per this answer posted by Pilot6: The automatic updates for my Kernel (3.16.0-30) are giving an older version (3.13.0-100) users who were on Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS were automatically downgraded from Kernel 3.16 to kernel 3.13.

If you choose to use kernel 3.16 you will have to install it manually and update it manually: How to update kernel to the latest mainline version without any Distro-upgrade?

Kernel Version 3.16 is LTS

Ubuntu versions 14.04, 16.04 and soon-to-be-released 18.04 are LTS (Long Term Support) and supported for five years. Mainline Linux Kernels also have LTS versions; 3.16, 4.4, 4.9 and 4.14.

In the 3.16 series of kernels, meltdown mitigation was introduced in Kernel version 3.16.52 and enhanced in Kernel 3.16.53.

Installing Kernel Version 3.16

When you install 3.16.53 kernel on Ubuntu version 14.04 LTS or 16.04 LTS you might get these errors:

dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-3.16.53-031653-generic:
 linux-image-3.16.53-031653-generic depends on module-init-tools (>= 3.3-pre11-4ubuntu3); however:
  Package module-init-tools is not installed.

dpkg: error processing package linux-image-3.16.53-031653-generic (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-3.16.53-031653-generic

To repair the dependency errors you will need to run:

sudo apt-get -f install

Then you need to install module-init-tools:

sudo apt-get module-init-tools

Finally you can install your 3.16.53 kernel version again.

Community
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WinEunuuchs2Unix
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  • I do not think we should be encouraging installation of the unofficial, unsupported "Mainline" kernels here. -1 – fkraiem Jan 26 '18 at 08:53
  • The Meltdown patch is in all Ubuntu kernels. – Pilot6 Jan 26 '18 at 09:33
  • @Pilot6 The Meltdown patch wasn't in the initial version of this answer which referred to a 3.16 version from 2016. Only kernels >= 2018 have Meltdown support and I think only 4.9.76 and 4.14.14 have spectre support. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 26 '18 at 14:12
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    @fkraiem OP wants 3.16 presumably for specific software or hardware support. Sometimes people need latest kernel for new hardware bugs. In the links above there are warnings about manually installing mainline/stable kernels. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Jan 26 '18 at 14:16