Linux Kernel 4.0 available in Fedora 22 Alpha

Early this week, Linus released version 4.0 of the Linux Kernel. Now, this updated version of the Linux Kernel is available in the official Fedora repositories for users running the alpha release of Fedora 22.

To get the updated version of the kernel on your Fedora 22 machine, either update the system via the Software application (in Fedora Workstation), or using

dnf update

on the command line.

UPDATE: Fedora Kernel Developer Josh Boyer recently posted about the 4.0 Kernel and Fedora. Check it out for further details about the 4.0 Kernel in Fedora.

Using Software

18 Comments

  1. mintslice

    So will this mean kernel upgrades without a reboot or is that still some time off?

    • According to Josh Boyer (a Fedora Kernel Dev) on this g+ thread:

      the live patching core is not enabled in the default Fedora kernel.

    • Alex

      You will probably see it in action in the Fedora cloud spin or in RHEL for sure.

  2. Alex

    Will VMware Workstation work with the 3.19 patch or not?

    Thanks!

  3. Hiisi

    What is dnf? What the hell is going on here? And a critical note here. When promoting that something new is available it would be nice to hint what it does? Will it make my life better this digit 4?

    • christof

      Hiisi, maybe you should check the link under the word released. Also you should stay away from alpha releases or any other version if you do not read the release notes, because then you would know what dnf does (announced already several fedora versions ago…)
      Just my critical 2 cents …

    • Alex

      “DNF stands for Dandified yum.” It is the new package manager that is replacing yum.

      As for the kernel version:

      As Torvalds, Linux’s founder, said on his Google+ account: “So, I made noises some time ago about how I don’t want another 2.6.39 where the numbers are big enough that you can’t really distinguish them. We’re slowly getting up there again, with 3.20 being imminent, and I’m once more close to running out of fingers and toes.”
      So Torvalds set up a survey where the choices were: “I like big versions and I cannot lie.” and “v.4.0, ’cause I get confused easily.” This “scientific” survey showed 56 percent of the respondents wanted version, so Torvalds decided to give it to them.

    • HerrWallen

      One could only assume that reading the article regarding DNF replacing YUM, posted five days ago on this very site would be asking to much?

      Regards.

    • @Hiisi – dnf is the future replacement of yum, it’s been around for years. It was planned to make it the default package manager in Fedora 21, but that slipped to Fedora 22. As for Linux Kernel 4.0, it has a few new features: framework to update kernel without reboot, more hardware support, and some smaller changes. The kernel version scheme is pretty arbitrary, so the jump from 3.20 to 4.0 is not necessarily a bigger release than 3.19 to 3.20

    • DNF is the successor to yum (the old command-line package management tool).

      Also, if you’ve been using Fedora 22 pre-releases, you’ve been running the 4.0.0 release candidates for some time. This announcement is basically letting people know that Fedora 22 now has the final upstream release of the kernel.

      As for the versioning, it’s completely meaningless. Linus polled upstream for whether they should call this the 3.20.0 kernel or the 4.0.0 kernel. It’s an aesthetic choice and really does not represent any significant or fundamental change between 3.19 and 4.0.

  4. Rainmaker

    @Hiisi When replying that someone didn’t tell you enough about something, it’d be nice if you’d read the linked material before complaining… 😉 If you wanted even more details, it’s not difficult to see the changes on kernel.org or if you’re less savvy enter ‘linux kernel 4 changes’ or similar into your favourite search engine. DNF is a widely documented feature in Fedora’s literature and is a new package tool set to deprecate yum.

    While this entry is brief it tells users everything they need to know. If you’re needing a bit more handholding then perhaps you might enjoy a distro like Linux Mint or Ubuntu more. Fedora is traditionally seen as a distro for those with some experience, and is favoured by developers and sysadmins who would know all about DNF and track kernel changes already. That’s not to say Fedora isn’t open to everyone (I started with Fedora Core 4 as a complete n00b), but to choose to run Fedora and then moan about basic stuff like this maybe suggests you might be happier in a more elementary community. It also costs nothing to be polite.

    Just my 0.02, and I’m just a user – nothing to do with the Fedora project or whatever.

  5. Koala Yeung

    Does that mean F22 will use kPatch in kernel update in the future?
    Do we get to taste the rebootless kernel update after all?

  6. Steve

    DNF is the replacement for the YUM package manager. I’m not sure the relevance of your second question. the number 4 is the major release number for the kernel (Linux) and as noted by the person who released it, no major feature enhancements, just a stable release. If you need to ask more, you should follow the links provided in the notice above and I am sure your questions will (mostly) be answered.

  7. caclaze

    NO. I loved the name yum. This is horrible news.

  8. Brian

    That’s disappointing news about the live patching not being enabled by default in the Fedora kernel. I’ve been very excited for that. Josh mentions “because reasons” but it’d be nice to know what they are

Comments are Closed

The opinions expressed on this website are those of each author, not of the author's employer or of Red Hat. Fedora Magazine aspires to publish all content under a Creative Commons license but may not be able to do so in all cases. You are responsible for ensuring that you have the necessary permission to reuse any work on this site. The Fedora logo is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Terms and Conditions