The Linux kernel is the heart of GNU Linux systems and know which version of the Kernel should be used especially those that are going to use in a product, portable device, desktop, servers, and so many other places from the simplest to the most unusual.
Greg Kroah-Hartman a leading Linux Kernel developer did an article en Your Website that gives advice on which Kernel we should use and we are going to highlight some important points of the article.
In the first moment, Greg now responds in the best way, that the best choice of which Linux Kernel to use is that Linux Kernel maintained by his distribution, that is to say, that the Kernel is already installed and in general later it is updated through official channels of each distribution.
At this point, he listed the best Linux kernel at least recommended which is the oldest LTS that still stands.
Upgrading the Linux kernel should be done with caution and not just by doing it.
Greg points out that the best solution for almost all Linux users is to simply use the kernel of your favorite Linux distribution.
Personally, he prefers Rolling Release versions of Linux distributions, since he will always receive the updated version of the latest kernel and they are supported by the developer community.
Distributions in this category are openSUSE, Arch, Gentoo, and others.
They point out that all of these distributions use the latest stable kernel version, and make sure any necessary bug fixes are applied regularly.
This is the strongest and best kernel you can use when it comes to having the latest patches and in addition to having all the fixes are security fixes.
There are some community distributions that take a little more time to update to a new version of the kernel, but eventually they get there.
These are also of great use, and the examples are Debian and Ubuntu.
Just because you haven't listed your favorite distro here doesn't mean your kernel isn't good.
Search the distribution site and make sure the kernel package is constantly updated with the latest security patches, and everything should be fine.
He says a lot of people seem to like the old "traditional" model of distributions and using RHEL, SLES, CentOS or Ubuntu's "LTS" release.
In these distributions you must choose a specific version of the kernel these distributions are usually of use for years.
They do a great job backporting the latest bug fixes and sometimes new features for these kernels, all to keep the version number so they never change, despite thousands of changes on top of the previous kernel version.
This job is hard work and the developers assigned to these tasks do a wonderful job of reaching those goals.
What is the recommended kernel version?
So, here is a short list of the different types of devices, and the type of kernel that Greg would recommend:
- Notebook / Desktop: Latest stable version
- Server: The latest stable version or the latest version of LTS
- Devices: The latest version of LTS or the oldest version of the LTS, the security model used is very strong and accurate.
What about Greg, what he does on his own machines? The notebooks run the latest kernel in development, in addition to the changes in the kernel you are currently working on and their servers run the latest stable version.
So even though he was in charge of the LTS releases, he doesn't use them, except on test systems.
Confidence in development and the latest stable versions does this to ensure that your machines are running faster and more secure versions than have been created thus far.