Linux kernel changing long term support releases to 6 years

[Mira Yurizaki]

Via: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/android-users-rejoice-linux-kernel-lts-releases-are-now-good-for-6-years/

 

Quote

Two years of support is fine for some computers, but it's not really enough time in the world of ARM devices, and especially in the world of Android. For Android, Google grabs a Linux LTS kernel and changes it into the "Android Common" kernel. This can then go to an SoC vendor like Qualcomm, which modifies it to work on a particular SoC. Then an OEM like Samsung can take this and build it into a phone. By the time this is all done and a device is ready to be released, we're already most of the way through the two years of kernel support. This doesn't even cover the consumer ownership lifecycle. Google provides three years of security updates for Android releases, which can mean years of Google having to maintain an old LTS kernel all by itself.

The gist of it is current LTS is two years. Since hardware development can take a good chunk of that time, by the time the hardware is released, there's not much time left for support.

 

While the emphasis appears with Android devices and the like, a lot other embedded systems gadgets also run Linux. So getting long term support for them is good 

 

Of course, the real issue is if the manufacturer will care. Cell phones are basically treated as two year (or less) commodities.

 

As an aside for people who don't know what LTS means: software that gets tagged for LTS means that version will continue getting patches for bug and vulnerability fixes, but no new features will be added.

[ScratchCat]

Android OEMs generally will still not release updates for their devices

Nice to see this for enterprise users who just need everything to 'simply work' while not getting malware.

[AlTech]

Yay. Watch how not a single Android OEM will actually use this properly to patch Android phones after the first year of support.

[Guest]

Now if SOC vendors like Qualcomm will make open source drivers instead proprietary blobs (I can understand why they do it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it)

[Trixanity]

This is supposed to go hand in hand with project Treble. Rumor has it that Google will promise at least 4 years of updates for the upcoming Pixel devices.

 

This sets the stage for the possibility of device makers updating their devices for much longer and without doing a lot of work. Of course, they don't care much for customers after they've sold you a device. Luckily this will also enable easier ROM development, so there's that consolation prize.

[Doobeedoo]

Yeah as far as smartphone flagships only get support for 2y really sucks and is lame.