Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, What is the announcement? That Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernels will receive updates through the Live Patch service, just like Long Term Release (LTS) kernels. The first kernel to receive support will be Linux 6.2, which will ship with Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster next week before becoming available as the HWE kernel in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS in July.
For those not familiar with Livepatch, it’s a service available to users with an Ubuntu Pro subscription. If you don’t have a subscription, it can be activated on up to five of your personal machines. With this enabled, you can get the latest kernel updates on your computer without rebooting. Linux kernel updates are one of the few packages that normally require a restart in Ubuntu but do not require a restart with Livepatch.
With HWE kernels, users of more stable Ubuntu LTS releases get support for the latest hardware. Newer HWE kernels usually arrive closer to the time of Ubuntu point releases than Ubuntu interim releases, such as 23.04. If you decide to enable Livepatch as a result of this news, there’s another big benefit.
Out of the box, Ubuntu LTS releases are supported for five years. By turning on the Ubuntu Pro features, you automatically extend the support of your Ubuntu LTS system for another five years, bringing the total to 10. If you have Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and turn on Ubuntu Pro, you’ll continue to receive updates for your system until 2032, by which time at least four more LTS releases will be available.
