User:Pietinger/Tutorials/Selecting a convenient kernel version

Tutorial: Selecting a convenient kernel version
This tutorial explains all options for selecting a certain kernel version. Only our Gentoo default sources will be used.

First of all there is a difference what is a stable version in the point of view of Gentoo and kernel developers. Kernel developers flag all kernels not being a release candidate as stable (-rc-versions). This is not true for Gentoo. In Gentoo only kernels which have Long Term Support (LTS) are stable. List of LTS kernels: https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html

Usually kernels developers create approximately every week a new minor version. See more here: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git (Select latest LTS version in column "Branch")

Not every minor version of a LTS kernel will become stable in Gentoo. Gentoo selects only some of them as stable. This leads to a new version of stable gentoo-sources approximately once in a month. There are 4 options for selecting a kernel version. First, get a list of all current available versions:

List of available kernel version
Best tool for an overview is eix. If not installed use

Stable versions are coloured in green:

Install Gentoo Sources
Choose one of these options:

Option 1: Choosing a Gentoo stable version
Just install the source without any additional step. This is the easiest way to go and also recommended in our Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Kernel

Option 2: Choosing the newest version
In Gentoo terms this is an unstable version. Kernel developers see it stable. Add these lines to (or create this file if it doesnt exist) before emerging gentoo-sources.

Proceed with step in Option 1.

Option 3: Choosing the newest version of current LTS series
This is my recommendation in my point of view for security, because every minor version of current LTS series will be installed. Disadvantage is of course the frequency of new versions. Choose this only if you are willing to update approximately every week.

At the time of writing this article version 5.15.x was the newest available LTS version and 5.16.x was available also. Do the same as explained in Option 2 and additionally add these lines to

The 2nd line is not really necessary because it is said that you can always use the newest sys-kernel/linux-header in this forums thread: https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-8597427.html#8597427 so it is your decision what you like. Proceed now with step in Option 1.

Option 4: Choosing a version of a certain series
If there is a reason to stay on an older series combine Option 2 and Option 3 to fulfill your needs.

Finalizing
Check if a softlink already exists with

If there is no softlink create it with eselect and proceed with your base installation or configuration training.