I never waded into the murky LTS world simply because I never needed to. This article just confirmed a normal cycle was officialized (word?).
“typically, the final stable Linux kernel release of the year becomes an LTS.”
but some stuff really got me thinking:
support is “A minimum of 2 years.
Linux 6.12 LTS will supported until December 2026. The support window may be extended if a kernel version is popular and widely used – and there’s the ‘people-power’ to support it. If not, it becomes end-of-life (EOL)…Community and distribution maintainers can continue to support any kernel version if they wish.”
Who does this kernel serve–I forget. Gamers or those who need uber-stability? Since LTS is always patched ( “does involve back-porting of important and critical bug fixes as and when required for the duration”) why isn’t it as prone to system-fubar as a Current kernel sometimes is?
I’ve always tend to keep an LTS kernel around, especially if the current one sees all of my hardware correctly. Since 6.12 works great for me, I’ve got no reason not to use it as the LTS fallback in case something gets removed upstream.
It’s also very convenient to have an LTS kernel around for any software that needs to build modules on the fly; Virtualbox, VMware, and Nvidia are notorious for having issues with the latest/greatest kernel (although VMware Workstation 17.x has been nothing short of amazing, knock on wood, and I’ve switched to the pre-built Nvidia modules).
From kernel.org:
The “projected EOL” dates are not set in stone. Each new longterm kernel usually starts with only a 2-year projected EOL that can be extended further if there is enough interest from the industry at large to help support it for a longer period of time.
So very likely 6.12 will be supported much more than 2 years.
I tried it, but still have wifi beaconing problems. I tried to report it back a cpl of months ago, but got lost in the linux mailing lists and ended up sending to the main kernel mailing list by mistake and gave up. Prior (6.6) LTS doesn’t have the problem for me, but 6.11 on does.
Will there be an ISO release to go with 6.12 kernel. Currently the Endeavour Neo ISO is on 6.10. Many systems with the new Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix point chips were released during these last months.
Why would you need that for an ISO? It’s just supposed to start and do your installation. If you update or do a net install, you’ll get the latest packages.
If a piece of hardware depends on a specific kernel version (as very new hardware sometimes does), it may not work in the live environment if the ISO uses a kernel version older than what is required.
If the hardware is, say, a pair of Bluetooth headphones or something, then who cares; take the update like you say and you’ll be fine. But if the hardware is a CPU or GPU, you may not be able to boot to the live environment to run the installer until the ISO is updated to use a more recent kernel version.