MX 17/18 Repository: The Liquorix Kernel Thread

[Stevo]

You could have the script grep the output of "uname -r" for "liquorix", and then proceed depending on what it finds.

[Stevo]

We now have the latest Liquorix 5.3-1 kernel in the test repo, based on the vanilla kernel 5.3.7 release. All 5.2 releases except for the last one have been removed from the repo.

If you are using out-of-tree DKMS drivers, such as Nvidia, broadcom-sta-dkms, virtualbox 5.2.X or 6.X, and so on, you should upgrade to the test repo (or experimental for Vbox 5.2.X) versions first, then install the latest kernel.

[jeffreyC]

Is there any chance of getting a 4.14 kernel back? It is an LTS kernel with an EOL years after even the 5.4 kernels, and a year later than the 4.9 kernel which is still available.

https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html

Longterm release kernels
Version Maintainer Released Projected EOL
5.4 Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin 2019-11-24 Dec, 2021
4.19 Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin 2018-10-22 Dec, 2020
4.14 Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin 2017-11-12 Jan, 2024
4.9 Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin 2016-12-11 Jan, 2023
4.4 Greg Kroah-Hartman & Sasha Levin 2016-01-10 Feb, 2022
3.16 Ben Hutchings 2014-08-03 Jun, 2020

[Stevo]

The Liquorix kernels don't incorporate any LTS patches at all--they are more for those that live at the leading edge.

We now have Liquorix 5.5 in the test repo. If you're using Virtual Box or Nvidia drivers, you must upgrade to the test repo versions of those first before the 5.5 kernel update, otherwise the DKMS driver builds will fail, along with the kernel installation.

Though almost nobody is using ndiswrapper, we just pushed an update into main that allows it to build on the 5.5 kernel, too. Broadcom-sta drivers in main were already compatible.

[Stevo]

Just updated last night to 5.5-8 (5.5.0-5.1)...or apparently we tried, but the upload failed.

It should be fixed very shortly, though.

[Stevo]

Now updated to 5.5-19 (kernel base release 5.5.15). The backported Wireguard VPN support from 5.6 has been restored.

[Stevo]

We now have the last 5.5-23 Liquorix kernel in the test repo, as well as the first 5.6-1 release, which is based on the 5.6.8 vanilla kernel.

Users of the following drivers should update before installing the new 5.6 kernel:

Virtualbox 6.1.16 in our test repo is known to build and work with it, as well as the nvidia-driver 440.82 in the test repo. The legacy 390xx and 340xx drivers in the TR also have patches for it, but need testing.

You may have to update broadcom-sta-dkms from the test repo if you need that wi-fi driver, otherwise, you should uninstall it, along with ndiswrapper-dkms, to save time on updates--why build them if you don't use them?

A patched version of bbswitch-dkms for those that use Bumblebee with Optimus laptops has also been updated in main to build with 5.6 kernels.