Not sure which kernel I should be on

According to the following link:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

you should use kernel version 3.13 or higher while using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

So linux-image-3.13.0-53-generic 3.13.0-53.89~precise1 should still be supported and OK.

What is the output of

hwe-support-status --verbose

>hwe-support-status --verbose
Your Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE) is supported until April 2017.

On another machine:
>uname -a
Linux MachineName 3.2.0-84-generic #121-Ubuntu SMP Tue May 5 18:54:05 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>hwe-support-status --verbose
You are not running a system with a Hardware Enablement Stack. Your system is supported until April 2017.

And, on another machine you suggested that I install lte quantal 3.35... last week.

I'm a little fussy about which kernel I should be on for each machine.

Other machine automatically upgraded to linux-image-3.5.0-54-generic last night.

See post #1 for the answer....

I like to use 3.2.0-84-generic or linux-image-3.5.0-54-generic to be consistent with my other machines. But here's the message that I am getting:
>uname -r
3.5.0-54-generic

>hwe-support-status --verbose
Your current Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE) is no longer supported
since 2014-08-07. Security updates for critical parts (kernel
and graphics stack) of your system are no longer available.

For more information, please see:
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/1204_HWE_EOL

The following packages are no longer supported:
 linux-image-3.5.0-54-generic linux-headers-3.5.0-54-generic linux-headers-3.5.0-54

Please upgrade them to a supported HWE stack or remove them if you
no longer need them.

I'm really confused right now. What is the lts quantal and lts trusty? Why is it saying that 3.5.0-54-generic is no longer supported; it just upgraded to that last night?

If you took the effort to fully READ what I gave you in post #1, including everything in the wiki link, you would know why 3.5.0 is not supported anymore. All the posts after post #1 are unnecessary.....

It is in this link, which is mentioned in post #1:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

I have mentioned it three times now, which is more than enough.....

And an explanation for lts quantal and lts trusty is just a Google search away....

I appreciate what you are directing me to, Mark. You are actually coming in at the tail end of another long post where Manfred had been instrumental. I'll reread the links you provided again. In the meantime, a couple of my machines upgraded to 3.5.0 last night. I'm trying to reinstall the following kernel to be consistent with my other machine and to be HWE supported, but this command that I used last week does not seem to work any longer:

>sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb (--install):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb

>sudo apt-get install linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?
gillh@fd-lso-alice:/$ sudo -i
root@fd-lso-alice:~# apt-get install linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb'

What happened to that package?

Oh well. I don't really understand the wiki link. I just did what the wiki link suggested and installed trusty:

>sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-trusty

I guess my question is that I don't want to be running a HWE stack and want to revert to 3.2.0.84, which is still supported. How do I do that?

In https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack#Kernel.2BAC8-Support.LTS_Kernel_Support_Schedule

it shows that the 12.04.2 v3.5 kernel (= your 3.5.0 kernel) was only supported until August 2014 (or maybe until April 2015 which is now history as well).

But the v3.13 kernel is supported in both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 14.04 LTS for several more years.

That is why I suggested using v3.13. If you have both Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (codename precise) and 14.04 LTS (codename trusty) machines, just install kernel 3.13 on all of them....

The following link might interest you as well:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=linux-image-hwe-generic

So you could keep all your Ubuntu 12.04 LTS machines on kernel v3.2 or upgrade all your machines to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and install v3.13 in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

I recommend the second option (upgrading all computers to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS) because of the newer kernel and kernel support until April 2019.

However, if you want to stick to v3.2 and stick to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on all your machines, you need to uninstall kernel 3.5.0 using Software Center on all your machines. When you boot an Ubuntu machine, Ubuntu will - by default - try to boot the highest kernel version number, in this case v3.5.0.

Before uninstalling any kernel, first make sure there is at least 1 kernel left on the Ubuntu system by running this command:

ls -lia /boot

Here is an example on my PC:

$ ls -lia /boot
total 77512
130817 drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mai 25 17:42 ./
     2 drwxr-xr-x 26 root root 4096 Mai 25 17:31 ../
131321 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1207386 Jan 15 19:22 abi-3.16.0-30-generic
140483 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1207096 Mai 8 12:44 abi-3.16.0-38-generic
131242 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 171768 Jan 15 19:22 config-3.16.0-30-generic
140185 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 171817 Mai 8 12:44 config-3.16.0-38-generic
130820 drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mai 25 17:38 grub/
146576 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28156257 Mai 25 17:38 initrd.img-3.16.0-30-generic
131573 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 28159835 Mai 25 17:42 initrd.img-3.16.0-38-generic
130824 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 176500 Mär 12 2014 memtest86+.bin
130825 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 178176 Mär 12 2014 memtest86+.elf
130826 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 178680 Mär 12 2014 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
133771 -rw------- 1 root root 3511040 Jan 15 19:22 System.map-3.16.0-30-generic
140000 -rw------- 1 root root 3513313 Mai 8 12:44 System.map-3.16.0-38-generic
136983 -rw------- 1 root root 6345104 Jan 15 19:22 vmlinuz-3.16.0-30-generic
133827 -rw------- 1 root root 6351952 Mai 8 12:44 vmlinuz-3.16.0-38-generic

So my PC still has 2 Ubuntu kernels installed on the harddisk.

Thank you, Mark. Much clearer after reading your post. I guess I was confused because v3.5 is a higher number, but v3.2 is still being supported as the Schedule specifies! I'm not sure why I was automatically upgraded to 3.5, however, if it is no longer being supported. I was surprised this morning.

Eventually, we will upgrade to v14.04; but at the moment, I would like to stay with v3.2. I am running servers and do not have a graphic interface to use Software center. I have two machines running v3.13 on 12.04.5; all of my others are running v3.2 on 12.04.5. I might just leave it as it is for now.

Three questions:

1. How would I reinstall the v3.2 (i.e. the original track) at the command prompt if I am on v3.13?

2. Peculiarly, on one machine, I am on v3.2.0.84 It says that I have a Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE), which I thought only applied to kernel v3.13. I had installed v3.13 and purged it recently to go back to v3.2. However, on my other machines where I am still on v3.2.0.84, it says that there is no HWE and will be supported until April 2017. I'm not sure what is going on with this one machine.

3.On that same machine in 2, I only have one kernel and would like to have a backup (i.e. v.3.2.0.83) in case of failure. Any suggestions?

I'm do appreciate that you think that I should just upgrade all to v3.13.

Answers to the 3 questions:

1) https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/Documentation/RemoveOldKernels

2) http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=linux-image-hwe-generic

HWE kernel in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is 3.2.0.82.96

HWE kernel in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS is 3.13.0.51.58

Make sure to install the Ubuntu package linux-hwe-generic on all your Ubuntu machines.

3) Keep at least 2 different (v3.2) kernels installed at all times (with a slight kernel version difference).
That handles the backup issue in an elegant way.

Post #12 was actually an answer to your third question in post #13, showing 2 kernels installed on my own PC....

Yes, my question in 1. and 3. was how to find and install old kernels, not remove them. I am quite good at purging old kernels now.
Say I want to install v3.2.0.84.98_amd64. I already tried, but it doesn't appear to available anymore.

>sudo apt-get install linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb

You can find out which kernels are available to install by running these 2 Terminal commands:

sudo apt-get update

apt-cache search linux-image

thumbs up!

I hope I do not add more confusion if I jump in again.

For Ubuntu 12.04 LTS there are (were) the following kernel variants available:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack#Kernel.2BAC8-Support.A12.04.x_Ubuntu_Kernel_Support

Originally installed 3.2
HWE quantal (3.5, no more supported)
HWE raring (3.8, no more supported)
HWE saucy (3.11, no more supported)
HWE trusty (3.13, most probably supported for another year or maybe more)

I do not think that it makes much difference whether you are running the 3.2 or 3.13 kernels on a precise server. Both series get patches and new versions regularly.

It might seem confusing that the 3.2 versions are still updated, but the 3.5 version is not, even if the 5 is greater than 2, but yes, it is like this.

++++++++++

Recommendations:

You have the choice to run either 3.2 or 3.13 kernels on your systems.
A downgrade from 3.5 or 3.13 back to 3.2 is not recommended, although it should be possible.
You are on the supported side if you upgrade all systems that currently are running a 3.5 kernel to 3.13
For a server the command for this upgrade is
sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-trusty

If you regularly perform package updates, you should see a new kernel installed within a month or so. All systems where there currently is only one version of the kernel, should get another one within a few weeks (the latest ones 3.2.0-84 and 3.13.0-53 have been published on May 20)

Remark:
dpkg needs the .deb file as parameter (sudo dpkg -i /...dir.../linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb )
apt-get needs only the name of the package (sudo apt-get install linux-server)
You cannot force installation of an older kernel with the linux-server package, because that always depends on the newest kernel. You would have to use
sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.2.0-84-generic
respectively
sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.2.0-83-generic # for the previous one.

Yes, always appreciated Manfred. I think I have everything sorted out now, with my machines using either v3.2 or v3.13.
I didn't realize quantal was v3.5. Your post was helpful once again.

Two questions:

1. I tried the following command that you suggested and that solved my previous mixed dependency issue on the previous post, but it does not appear to work any longer. Although I do not need it anymore, I am trying to understand better how we solved the previous problem in case it happens again in the future. I believe we just reinstalled the kernel to override the mixed dependency issue due to the boot partition being full.

Why doesn't this work any longer?
>sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb (--install):
 cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-server_3.2.0.84.98_amd64.deb

Would I instead use what you suggested above?:
>sudo apt-get install linux-image-3.2.0-84-generic

2. I am still unclear what a HWE stack is and how is it is different from the original track for updating the kernels.

1. When you install or upgrade packages with apt-get, a copy of the .deb file is stored in /var/cache/apt/archives/ and you can (re)-install it with "sudo dpkg /...dir.../..filename..deb". There are several possible reasons that the .deb file is not (or no more) there.
a. it has never been stored there, because there was no apt-get command executed that would have copied it there
b. you have manually deleted it
c. you have deleted it by using "sudo apt-get clean" or "sudo apt-get autoclean"
etc.

2. from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1204_HWE_EOL
What is HWE?
Hardware Enablement Stacks (HWE) are incorporated into installers for select Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) point releases. It is a special Ubuntu feature that provides an LTS release with hardware support introduced in newer Ubuntu releases. For Ubuntu 12.04 the point releases are .2/.3/.4/.5 and the corresponding Ubuntu releases are 12.10/13.04/13.10/14.04.

In my words: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS was originally provided with the 3.2 kernel. There is some hardware support for new hardware provided by higher kernel series, and to allow users of Ubuntu 12.04 use these features, there was the decision to supply a version of the newer kernel series also for the older LTS releases.
The naming of these add-on packages is always related to the Ubuntu series where the kernel with that version number is provided (see also my previous post). In addition to the kernel, there is a similar action for certain xorg packages (not relevant for a server, but just for desktop systems).

If you have an original Ubuntu 12.04 system with 3.2 kernel, you can stay on it for as long as the 12.04 release is supported.
If you device to install a HWE kernel update once, you have to stay on that path and regularly go further (from lts-raring to lts-saucy to lts-trusty and so on) to stay on supported versions.

If you now have either 3.2 or 3.13 kernels running, then your systems are up-to-date and supported (see also the output of hwe-support-status --verbose).

As far as I can see from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack#Kernel.2BAC8-Support.A12.04.x_Ubuntu_Kernel_Support there will not be further upgrades for Ubuntu 12.04, so there will not be the need for further actions on your systems until April 2017 (EOL date of Ubuntu 12.04). Just care for implementing all relevant security updates and do regular housekeeping.

Excellent, Manfred! I missed "sudo apt-get install linux-server". Everything is good again. Thank you for your help once again.