Arch Linux

amaro

Member

From: xfce

Registered: 2014-05-09

Posts: 367

what are the real dangers of running linux 4.19 vs 5.7

Hello everybody,

Just stumbled on this article from 11 November 2019 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= … 6-54&num=1

It's titled 'The Disappointing Direction Of Linux Performance From 4.16 To 5.4 Kernels'

Can someone explain in layman (everyday) language what are the real dangers for the average user if running kernel 4.19.10 vs latest 5.7.19?

Thank you in advance!

progandy

Member

Registered: 2012-05-17

Posts: 5,321

Re: what are the real dangers of running linux 4.19 vs 5.7

If you run 4.19.10, you have neither updates for new hardware nor updates for bugs and security issues.
Greg K.H. does maintain a LTS release for 4.19.X and backports patches that keep the kernel secure, so if you really want an older kernel, you should use that (currently 4.19.149). This support for 4.19 will end in December 2024.

https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html

Edit: If you don't care about the mitigations for spectre and meltdown, then you can mostly disable them in newer kernels as well. That is not really a good reason to stop updating.

Last edited by progandy (2020-10-04 10:59:02)

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Mr.Elendig

#archlinux@freenode channel op

From: The intertubes

Registered: 2004-11-07

Posts: 4,097

Re: what are the real dangers of running linux 4.19 vs 5.7

Hello everybody,

Just stumbled on this article from 11 November 2019 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= … 6-54&num=1

It's titled 'The Disappointing Direction Of Linux Performance From 4.16 To 5.4 Kernels'

Can someone explain in layman (everyday) language what are the real dangers for the average user if running kernel 4.19.10 vs latest 5.7.19?

Thank you in advance!

As a sidenote: you are highly unlikely to actually notice any of the regressions unless you have some highly specific use cases.

Edit: Also there is a newer article and sets of benchmarks out too. And for some workloads 5.6 and on had some nice improvements instead.

Last edited by Mr.Elendig (2020-10-04 15:06:34)

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