1204_HWE_EOL

Revision 5 as of 2014-05-09 20:10:42

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WARNING: THIS PAGE IS A WIP!

Contents

  1. What is HWE?
  2. How to determine if I am affected?
    1. Use the provided script
    2. Manually
  3. What are my options if I am affected?
    1. 1. Install Trusty HWE on 12.04
    2. 2. Upgrade from 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS
    3. 3. Fresh Install of 14.04 LTS
  4. What are the pros and cons of those options?

What is HWE?

Hardware Enablement Stacks (HWE) are incorporated into installers for select LTS point releases and provide hardware support from recent 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.

The HWE path can be obtained in 2 ways:

  1. Installing Ubuntu from the media (ISO) for these point releases where HWE is used by default.
  2. Manually installing a special kernel/graphics stack via a metapackage (ex: linux-image-generic-lts-saucy).

More information can be found: Kernel/LTSEnablementStack

How to determine if I am affected?

The HWE kernels and graphics stacks are only supported until August 8th 2014, with the exception being the lts-trusty backport from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which will be supported until 12.04 goes EOL.

We suggest using the script (below) to determine if you are using one of the HWE stacks that is going EOL.

Use the provided script

instructions on how to run hwe-support-status, depending on what stage of release it is at:

  1. Launchpad only (stable only by May 23? Hopefully sooner; see email thread)
    1. bzr co --lightweight lp:~mvo/update-manager/hwe-support-status
    2. cd hwe-support-status
    3. ./hwe-support-status
  2. precise-proposed (by June 13)
  3. precise-updates (by June 27)

Manually

You can get a basic idea by just checking your kernel version with the 'uname -a' command.

  • If it shows 3.5/3.8/3.11 you are affected
  • If it shows 3.2/3.13 you are not affected

It's important to note that you this would not check for graphics stack (xorg/mesa) HWE. Ubuntu was never shipped with just a HWE graphics stack (without a corresponding kernel) and that setup is not supported if installed manaully.

What are my options if I am affected?

You have the three options below.

1. Install Trusty HWE on 12.04

This depends if you are running on a desktop or server system. The hwe-support-status script will tell you exactly what you need to run.

  • Desktop: sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-trusty NEEDED: xorg/mesa packages
  • Server: sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-trusty NEEDED: do some people need a -signed kernel or is that automagically handled?

2. Upgrade from 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS

sudo do-release-upgrade -p (doesn't work yet) NEEDED; An upgrade page. Might be this page which needs updating: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes

3. Fresh Install of 14.04 LTS

You always have the option of reploying the machines with a fresh copy of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and the reconfiguring them to your needs.

What are the pros and cons of those options?

HWE Upgrade Only

Full 14.04 Upgrade

Fresh 14.04 Install

Kernel

14.04 Kernel version (3.13 kernel)

14.04 Kernel version (3.13 kernel)

14.04 Kernel

Xorg

14.04 Xorg and Graphics Stack

14.04 Xorg and Graphics Stack

14.04 Xorg and Graphics Stack

EOL

12.04 EOL (April 2017)

14.04 EOL (April 2019)

14.04 EOL

Applications/Servers

Generally no change*

Newer 14.04 Versions will be installed, may need reconfiguring

Needs to be fully reconfigured and restored

Time (estimates with fast hardware)

10-30 Minutes with reboot

1-3 hours with reboot +

30 Minutes (just install)

*It's important to note that changing the Linux kernel/Xorg stack can affect applications. For example the 14.04 kernel can online resize ext4 partitions much faster than the 12.04 kernel can. +Note: A fresh install of 14.04 is much faster than an upgrade and is definitely an option if you would prefer not upgrading in place.