I thought 14.04 was supported for 5 years so why am I getting HWE stack message?

[bullwinkle2]

Tonight I got a popup on my machines that says:

New important security and hardware support update.

WARNING: Security updates for your current Hardware Enablement Stack ended on 2016–08–04:
* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/1404_HWE_EOL

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there are also three buttons on this popup: "Settings", "Install", and "OK". But there is no indication whatsoever of what exactly the "Install" button is going to install.

I thought 14.04 was supported for five years, and it looks like this is trying to force me to upgrade to 16.04 or else not get kernel security update. I DO NOT wish to upgrade to 16.04 at this time for a couple of reasons, first I have seen too many reports of people having problems after an upgrade, but more important I am running an older version of Kodi and I do NOT want to be forced to upgrade that because it has some bugs I don't want to deal with.

I really don't understand what the link above is telling me but it sure looks like Ubuntu is for all intents and purposes abandoning a LTS version after only two years and a few months. AND doing so with no advance warning at all. This really sucks in my opinion.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to stay with 14.04 and continue to receive security updates? I don't care about getting newer kernel versions necessarily, but what's the point of having an LTS release that's supposed to be supported for five years if you stop offering security updates after two years? I might be willing to install 16.04 in another year or so (I generally never install the first version of a Ubuntu LTS release anyway) but first I want to wait for Kodi to release a new version that doesn't have the bugs of Jarvis (the current version) in it. And, I'd rather not be forced to do ii in a big all-fired hurry because you decided to end support with no advance warning (in fact the warning came two weeks AFTER the updates ended, according to the popup message).

THIS REALLY SUCKS IN MY OPINION!!! Either there should be a way to just update the "Hardware Enablement Stack", whatever that is, or you should stop telling users that LTS versions will be supported for five years. And if there IS a way to just update the "Hardware Enablement Stack" then your link above should clearly offer that as an option. I hope I am just missing something here, and that you are not effectively forcing user to upgrade 14.04 now or run an insecure system.

[oldfred]

If you keep the original 14.04 it is supported until 2019.
Once you start using the HWE, you have to keep updating it until you get to 14.04.5 and then 14.04.5 is supported until 2019.
But the interim HWE are not supported.

That is what the link you have above says.

You may also be getting notices that you can update to 16.04, but that is optional.

I have always done a new clean install of next LTS keeping old one. My two / (root) partitions (14.04 will become 18.04) will be alternated if I still have same SSD as boot drive.

[bullwinkle2]

If you keep the original 14.04 it is supported until 2019.
Once you start using the HWE, you have to keep updating it until you get to 14.04.5 and then 14.04.5 is supported until 2019.
But the interim HWE are not supported.

That is what the link you have above says.

You may also be getting notices that you can update to 16.04, but that is optional.

I have always done a new clean install of next LTS keeping old one. My two / (root) partitions (14.04 will become 18.04) will be alternated if I still have same SSD as boot drive.

I don't even know what HWE is.

I just installed plain old Ubuntu Desktop 14.04, as far as I knew. And then every time Update Manager offered an update, I let it install. I never did anything to "start using the HWE" because I would not have had any reason to do so.

So then my next question is, if going to 14.04.5 solves the problem, why am I getting this message when I already have Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS, according to "lsb_release -a"?

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty

Also, going back to that original popup that I mentioned in my first post, I forgot to mention there are three buttons on it, "Settings", "Install", and "OK". But it gives you no clue what you will get if you click "Install" - will that attempt to upgrade you to 16.04? Why would there be an "Install" button with no clues as to what you are actually about to install? I don't want to click it to find out, because I fear it will just go ahead and attempt to install 16.04 without first asking if that's what I want to do.

HWE stack is bringing kernels from new releases (e.g. 14.10, 15.04, 15.10...) to 14.04 LTS. drivers in linux are part of kernels, so to have new PCs from say this year work with OS from 2014 you need to upgrade the kernel. the programs will stay the same though. that way one can install old LTS to new PC or upgrade the PC and stay on old LTS.

in this particular case upgrading kernel shouldn't change much for you unless you are using AMD and fglrx driver (proprietary driver) which i think can't yet (not sure if it ever will) patch the kernel in 14.04.5. instead it get's replaced by latest Radeon (opensource driver). if you are using nvidia or intel GPU then this is not an issue at all. you will just get latest stable drivers.

I am NOT using AMD and fglrx driver. But the way that referenced page reads, I won't get any kernel updates anymore:

And why should I care?

Starting Aug 4, 2016, systems using an interim HWE Stack older than the Xenial HWE Stack will no longer receive software updates for the kernel and, if you're running it, the graphics stack. We encourage all Ubuntu 14.04 HWE Stack users to update to the final Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial HWE Stack or fully upgrade to the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS release.

So while you are saying that "upgrading kernel shouldn't change much for you", according to that there will be a huge change in that I won't get any more updates (presumably including security updates)!

So either someone did a very poor job of communicating the real situation through that popup and the web page linked from it, in which case I'd like to see the page updated with correct information, or they really are abandoning support of 14.04 prematurely.

I want to emphasize again that I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to proactively install a HWE stack, because I had no idea such a thing existed and still have no clue why you'd need one (nor do I really care to know). I just installed Ubuntu using the standard download. The page seems to imply that there are two versions of Ubuntu (for example, in the FAQ at the bottom it says "14.04.3 is not 14.04.3 HWE") but I did not select a HWE version. So I am totally confused as to why I'm getting this popup in the first place.

[howefield]

So then my next question is, if going to 14.04.5 solves the problem, why am I getting this message when I already have Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS, according to "lsb_release -a"?

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
Release: 14.04
Codename: trusty

What is the output of

uname -a

No matter which 14.04 installation media you used, whether it be the original 14.04 release or any of the point releases, applying the updates will take it to 14.04.5. The difference is the kernel which will stay on the "series" from the install media (or HWE stack which includes X support as well). So being on 14.04.5 doesn't necessarily that you are on a supported kernel/X.

[bullwinkle2]

What is the output of

uname -a

uname -a shows this on the affected systems, the only thing that differs is the machinename and the current time:

Linux machinename 3.19.0-66-generic #74~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 19 19:56:11 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

No matter which 14.04 installation media you used, whether it be the original 14.04 release or any of the point releases, applying the updates will take it to 14.04.5. The difference is the kernel which will stay on the "series" from the install media (or HWE stack which includes X support as well). So being on 14.04.5 doesn't necessarily that you are on a supported kernel/X.

Again, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me here. All I know is I installed it using the normal Ubuntu install file which was saved to a bootable thumb drive.

The only thing really I want to know right now is, what do I have to do, if anything, to continue to get kernel security updates without upgrading to 16.04. That is the thing that concerns me most. I don't want to upgrade; that's why I used a LTS version, but I also don't want to leave my systems insecure. And I am not a Linux expert by any means, that's why I installed Ubuntu.

[mc4man]

uname -a shows this on the affected systems, the only thing that differs is the machinename and the current time:

Linux machinename 3.19.0-66-generic #74~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jul 19 19:56:11 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux



Again, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me here. All I know is I installed it using the normal Ubuntu install file which was saved to a bootable thumb drive.

The only thing really I want to know right now is, what do I have to do, if anything, to continue to get kernel security updates without upgrading to 16.04. That is the thing that concerns me most. I don't want to upgrade; that's why I used an LTS version, but I also don't want to leave my systems insecure. And I am not a Linux expert by any means, that's why I installed Ubuntu.

Your installation image was 14.04.3, i.e. lts~vivid (In other words 14.04 with the vivid 15.04 kernel & mesa libraries
So there will be no more updates to the 3.19 kernel as 15.04 is EOL (end of life

Unfortunately Ubuntu doesn't make that clear before installation & give users the opportunity to use the original image for installation instead. The HWE deal is somewhat described here - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

Myself also have a 14.04.3 image installation & will not be upgrading to the final lts (lts~xenial) as the kernel causes my hardware issues & the newer mesa libraries also. I'm not that concerned about kernel updates for what's generally obscure issues.

If you want full 5 yr. kernel support then you'd need to upgrade to the final lts (lts~xenial) or start over & use the 14.04.1 installation image, found here half way down the page (ones showing a last modified on July 22, 2014
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/14.04.1/
That kernel (3.13.x) is fully supported for 5 years

[mastablasta]

The only thing really I want to know right now is, what do I have to do, if anything, to continue to get kernel security updates without upgrading to 16.04. That is the thing that concerns me most. I don't want to upgrade; that's why I used a LTS version, but I also don't want to leave my systems insecure. And I am not a Linux expert by any means, that's why I installed Ubuntu.

HWE stack is hardware enablement stack. i though i explained how it works. but again in short it is there to enable new hardware to work with old LTS.

to upgrade the kernel only you need to copy and paste a few commands (depending on how you have it installed):

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

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS - Trusty Tahr

The 14.04.2 and newer point releases will ship with an updated kernel and X stack by default. If you have installed with older media you can use the following to install the newer HWE kernel derived from 16.04 (Xenial):
Desktop

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-core-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-xenial libwayland-egl1-mesa-lts-xenial

Multiarch Desktop

If you run a multiarch desktop (for example, i386 and amd64 on amd64, for gaming or Wine), you may find you need a slightly more involved command, like this:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-core-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-video-all-lts-xenial xserver-xorg-input-all-lts-xenial libwayland-egl1-mesa-lts-xenial libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-xenial libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-xenial:i386 libglapi-mesa-lts-xenial:i386

[mastablasta]

HWE stack is bringing kernels from new releases (e.g. 14.10, 15.04, 15.10...) to 14.04 LTS. drivers in linux are part of kernels, so to have new PCs from say this year work with OS from 2014 you need to upgrade the kernel. the programs will stay the same though. that way one can install old LTS to new PC or upgrade the PC and stay on old LTS.

in this particular case upgrading kernel shouldn't change much for you unless you are using AMD and fglrx driver (proprietary driver) which i think can't yet (not sure if it ever will) patch the kernel in 14.04.5. instead it get's replaced by latest Radeon (opensource driver). if you are using nvidia or intel GPU then this is not an issue at all. you will just get latest stable drivers.

[howefield]

According to what you have written above, it would appear that you installed with the 14.04.3 image which has that kernel series.

Although normal updates will take you to 14.04.5 in all other respects, your kernel is no longer supported, see..

http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life

and scroll down the page to the section entitled "Kernel release end of life". Note that the 3.19 series is end of life right about now.

[bullwinkle2]

According to what you have written above, it would appear that you installed with the 14.04.3 image which has that kernel series.

Although normal updates will take you to 14.04.5 in all other respects, your kernel is no longer supported, see..

http://www.ubuntu.com/info/release-end-of-life

and scroll down the page to the section entitled "Kernel release end of life". Note that the 3.19 series is end of life right about now.

I installed the version that was offered on the Ubuntu site. This is what is really frustrating to me; people are acting like I made a conscious choice to use a version with a short kernel end of life. I did not. I simply took what was offered on the Ubuntu site as the current version. But beyond that, I have 16.04.5 according to the output of the "lsb_release -a" so according to that chart, I should be good until sometime in 2020. I have applied all the kernel updates that have been offered in Update Manager. So why would I have a kernel that is no longer supported? (That's a rhetorical question; I probably would not understand the answer.)

What I hear you guys saying is that even though this is a "Long Term Support" release that is supposed to be supported for five years, depending on when I downloaded it, or on the position of the moon and stars, or whether a gnat sneezed, or some other unknown factor that I probably wouldn't understand if you tried to explain it to me, somehow I wound up with a version that was only supported for part of that five years. I didn't want such a version, and would never have knowingly downloaded such a version, but that's what was offered on the Ubuntu site at some point in time. And now, all people can tell me is that even though my version identifies as the current version when I run "lsb_release -a" (because I HAVE applied all the updates), somehow I'm stuck with this funky kernel, and what nobody's explaining so far is, "How do I upgrade that to the version that will last until the end of the five years?"

Seriously, it does not help me at all to get explanations for why this happened, particularly since I'm apparently not familiar enough with the guts of Linux to understand any of the ones that have been offered so far. The only thing that's really going to be helpful is if someone can explain what I have to do now to get the supported kernel installed on these systems. Which is really something that should be prominently featured on that web page I referenced in my first post, which right now basically only tries to get you to upgrade to 16.04.