Linux Kernel 4.9 was finally released last night as ‘the biggest release’ said in the announcement. Linus Torvalds wrote on lkml.org:

So Linux 4.9 is out, and the merge window for 4.10 is thus open.

With the extra week for 4.9, the timing for the merge window is obviously a bit awkward, and it technically closes in two weeks on Christmas Day. But that is a pure technicality, because I will certainly stop pulling on the 23rd at the latest, and if I get roped into xmas food prep, even that date might be questionable.

I could extend the merge window rather than cut it short, but I’m not going to. I suspect we all want a nice calm winter break, so if your stuff isn’t ready to be merged early, the solution is to just not merge it yet at all, and wait for 4.11. Just so you all know (I already bcc’d the main merge window suspects in a separate mailing last week, I’m just repeating myself here to avoid anybody being confused about timing).

Anyway, back to 4.9 itself.

I’m pretty sure this is the biggest release we’ve ever had, at least in number of commits. If you look at the number of lines changed, we’ve had bigger releases in the past, but they have tended to be due to specific issues (v4.2 got a lot of lines from the AMD GPU register definition files, for example, and we’ve had big re-organizations that caused a lot of lines in the past: v3.2 was big due to staging, v3.7
had the automated uapi header file disintegration, etc). In contrast, 4.9 is just big.

Admittedly a chunk of that is the new greybus staging support, but that really isn’t the bulk of it – it’s just another small detail in the overall “yes, v4.9 is big” picture.

Other than just the size, 4.9 looks fairly normal. A bit over two thirds drivers (staging, GPU and networking are the bulk of it, but it’s all over), with the rest looking fairly normal too: arch updates, documentation, generic networking, filesystems..

The shortlog (16k+ commits, with another 1100 merge commits to round things out) is obviously much too big to put here, and wouldn’t be legible anyway. So as is my wont, I’m appending just the log of my merges.

New Features in Linux Kernel 4.9:

• Virtual Display Support and improved GPU reset for AMDGPU.
• Various fixes and improvements to Intel DRM.
• Memory protection keys (MPK) support.
• Support for vmapped kernel stacks.
• 29 more ARM machines support, including Raspberry Pi Zero, LG Nexus 5, etc.
• Various file-system improvements and more.

How to Install Linux Kernel 4.9:

The Ubuntu kernel team has build the new kernel release, and the binaries are available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 4.9 (.deb)

Depends on your OS type, grab and install the packages below one by one:

• linux-headers-4.9.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
• linux-headers-4.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
• linux-image-4.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

To get the Kernel 4.9 from the command console, run the commands below one by one:

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-headers-4.9.0-040900_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-headers-4.9.0-040900-generic_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-image-4.9.0-040900-generic_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-headers-4.9.0-040900_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-headers-4.9.0-040900-generic_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.9/linux-image-4.9.0-040900-generic_4.9.0-040900.201612111631_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

After installed these .debs, restart and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.9:

Start/restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in Grub2 -> Advanced menu. Then use Ubuntu Tweak, or other system tool to remove the Kernel 4.9, or you may see this post that teach you how to remove old kernels.

Linus Torvalds finally announced the release of the Linux Kernel 4.7. He wrote on lkml.org:

So, after a slight delay due to my travels, I’m back, and 4.7 is out.

Despite it being two weeks since rc7, the final patch wasn’t all that big, and much of it is trivial one- and few-liners. There’s a couple of network drivers that got a bit more loving. Appended is the shortlog since rc7 for people who care: it’s fairly spread out, with networking and some intel Kabylake GPU fixes being the most noticeable ones. But there’s random small noise spread all over.

Kernel 4.7 release highlights:

• open source support for Radeon RX 480 GPUs
• async discard support by the core block code
• support for upgrading firmware using the EFI Capsule
• New Linux Security Module (LSM) “LoadPin”
• support for generating virtual USB Device Controllers in USB/IP
• numerous drivers updates and lots of bug-fixes.

How to Install / Upgrade Kernel 4.7 in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Kernel Team has made the binary packages for the new kernel release, available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 4.7 Packages [.deb]

Depends on your OS type, grab and install the packages below one by one:

1. linux-headers-4.7.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
2. linux-headers-4.7.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
3. linux-image-4.7.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system and i386 for 32bit system.

You may also download these .deb packages in terminal / command console by running following commands one by one:

For 64-bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-headers-4.7.0-040700_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-headers-4.7.0-040700-generic_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-image-4.7.0-040700-generic_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

For 32bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-headers-4.7.0-040700_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-headers-4.7.0-040700-generic_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7/linux-image-4.7.0-040700-generic_4.7.0-040700.201607241632_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Finally restart your computer.

Uninstall Kernel 4.7:

For any reason you want to remove this Kernel, start/restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in Grub2 -> Advanced menu. Then remove the 4.7 kernel via Ubuntu Tweak, or just follow this tutorial.

Linus Torvalds finally announced the release of Linux Kernel 4.4 yesterday afternoon. He wrote on LKML:

Nothing untoward happened this week, so Linux-4.4 is out in all the usual places.

The changes since rc8 aren’t big. There’s about one third arch updates, one third drivers, and one third “misc” (mainly some core kernel and networking), But it’s all small. Notable might be unbreaking the x86-32 “sysenter” ABI, when somebody (*cough*android-x86*cough*) misused it by not using the vdso and
instead using the instruction directly.

Full shortlog appended for people who care or are just curious.

And with this, the merge window for 4.5 is obviously open, even if I won’t start actually pulling until tomorrow.

Linux Kernel 4.4 features:

• initial AMD Stoney APU Support
• numerous AMD GPU additions for AMD Carrizo, Tonga, or Fiji graphics processor
• Raspberry Pi KMS driver for kernel mode-setting
• VirGL VirtIO 3D GPU driver added to Gallium3D
• many Network, WiFi, and eBPF updates
• 64-bit ARM updates, nouveau improvements, and much more.

How to Install Kernel 4.4 in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Kernel Team has made the binaries a few hours ago, available for download at the link below:

Download Linux Kernel 4.4 DEBs

You may first check out your OS type, 32-bit or 64-bit, (also arm, ppc64 packages available) then download and install below packages one by one:

1. linux-headers-4.4.0-xxx_all.deb
2. linux-headers-4.4.0-xxx-generic_xxx_i386/amd64.deb
3. linux-image-4.4.0-xxx-generic_xxx_i386/amd64.deb

If you need a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio) then download & install below packages instead:

1. linux-headers-4.4.0_xxx_all.deb
2. linux-headers-4.4.0-xxx-lowlatency_xxx_i386/amd64.deb
3. linux-image-4.4.0-xxx-lowlatency_xxx_i386/amd64.deb

For Ubuntu Server or those who prefer Linux commands, run below commands one by one to download and install the kernel binaries:

For 64-bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-headers-4.4.0-040400_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-headers-4.4.0-040400-generic_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-image-4.4.0-040400-generic_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

For 32-bit system:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-headers-4.4.0-040400_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-headers-4.4.0-040400-generic_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-wily/linux-image-4.4.0-040400-generic_4.4.0-040400.201601101930_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Restart computer after installation.

Uninstall the 4.4 Kernel:

For any reason you want to remove this kernel, restart your computer and select boot with the previous Kernel (under Advanced Options) when you’re at Grub boot menu, after logged in run below command in a terminal:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-4.4.0-* linux-image-4.4.0-*; sudo update-grub