On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 04:02:46PM -0400, Mark H Weaver wrote: > Hi, > > Vagrant Cascadian writes: > > Would it be too complicated to include both the latest LTS kernel and > > the most recently packaged kernel in the installer, and default to using > > the same kernel for the installation? > > Sounds good to me. More specifically, I would suggest offering the user > a choice between using the latest stable kernel, or using the latest > kernel from the most recent LTS series at the time of installation. > > If the user chooses the latter option, the installer would produce an OS > configuration containing "(kernel linux-libre-X.YY)", where X.YY is > latest LTS series at installation time. > > The idea is that if they choose the LTS kernel option today, > 'linux-libre-5.10' would be put into their OS config, so they would stay > on the 5.10 kernel series until they explicitly update to a later > series. This is a good choice for production systems where stability is > more important than running the latest code, and even for ordinary users > who wish to have control over when major kernel updates are done. > > I would recommend avoiding the 'linux-libre-lts' variable, because it > fails to provide the primary benefit that LTS kernels are meant to > provide: the ability to postpone potentially disruptive major kernel > upgrades until a time of the user's choosing, when the user is prepared > for possible breakage. Users who put 'linux-libre-lts' in their OS > configurations should expect that a major kernel upgrade will happen > several years before it is needed, and could happen unexpectedly any > time they upgrade their system. Unless they carefully inspect the > 'guix' command output _every_ time they upgrade their system, users of > the 'linux-libre-lts' variable are unlikely to notice a major kernel > upgrade until it has already been done. > > Thoughts? > > Thanks, > Mark > IIRC the Debian installer offers linux, linux-major.minor and linux-major.minor.point in the installer. I don't really understand why and how a newer kernel would make things stop working, but I could see offering linux-libre, linux-libre-lts and linux-libre-5.10 (using the 1.3.0 release as the example). -- Efraim Flashner אפרים פלשנר GPG key = A28B F40C 3E55 1372 662D 14F7 41AA E7DC CA3D 8351 Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed on emails sent or received unencrypted