= Nack =
This is a disclaimer that the policy described below is completely obsolete and irrelevant now.  This page was only meant to document a potential roadmap to follow in the event the Ubuntu distro moved to a rolling release policy.  At this time, Ubuntu has not chosen to proceed to a rolling release policy, and thus the policy below is a moot point.  This wiki only exists for historical reference. 

== Rolling Release ==

The following describes policy and package naming conventions for newer kernels in current and subsequent LTS releases.

== 10.04 ==

For Lucid, we are currently backed into a corner, eg the 10.10 Maverick release is EOL and users are stranded. There is currently no automated solution for upgrading the customers. We will issue a USN and MOTD to the effect that the 10.10 Maverick kernel is falling out of support.  It will suggest they install the linux-image-hwe-<flavor> rolling meta package to ensure they are always upgraded to a newer supported kernel.

{{{
         10.04  10.10  11.04  11.10  12.04  12.10  13.04  13.10  14.04  14.10  15.04
10.04 SP   <---*-----*------*------*--------------------------------------------->
10.04 R    |=====================================================================|
10.10 L           |====================|
11.04 L                  |====================|
11.10 L                         |====================|
}}}

== 12.04 ==

The UDS-Q decision is that we will provide the kernels from 12.10, 13.04, 13.10, and 14.04 in 12.04. We propose the following meta packages:

 * linux-image-<flavour> - this existing meta package will always point to the GA 3.2 kernel
 * linux-image-hwe-<flavor> -> rolling release meta package.  It will point to the hardware enablement kernel package.
 * linux-hwe-<flavor> -> rolling release meta package.  It will point to the hardware enablement kernel and headers packages.
 * linux-image-current-<flavor> - always points to the the most recently released kernel, e.g., 12.10, 13.04, etc.
 * linux-current-<flavor> - always points to the the most recently released kernel and headers, e.g., 12.10, 13.04, etc.

Point releases will install using linux-image-hwe-<flavor>.

linux-hwe-<flavour> will lag linux-current-<flavor> until just before a point release is made, at which time it will be set to point to the most recent released kernel and headers. The point release will be installed using linux-hwe-<flavour>.

{{{
         12.04  12.10  13.04  13.10  14.04  14.10  15.04  15.10  16.04  16.10  17.04
12.04 SP   <---*-----*------*------*--------------------------------------------->
12.04 R    |=====================================================================|
12.10 E           |========================|v 
13.04 E                   |================|v         
13.10 E                         |==========|v               
14.04 E                                |=========================================|
}}}

== 14.04 and Newer ==

The 14.04 GA kernel will be supported for 5 years. However, the kernel team will adopt a rolling kernel upgrade policy for 14.04 for hardware enablement kernels. This, of course, is predicated on our ability to thoroughly Q/A the development release kernel for regression.

 * linux-image-<flavor> will reference the GA kernel.
 * linux-<flavor> will reference the GA kernel and headers.
 * linux-image-hwe-<flavour> - will reference the hardware enablement kernel.
 * linux-hwe-<flavor> will reference the hardware enablement kernel and headers.

Rolling releases will be installed using linux-image-hwe-<flavor>.

{{{
         14.04  14.10  15.04  15.10  16.04  16.10  17.04  17.10  18.04  18.10  19.04  19.10  20.04  20.10 21.04
14.04 SP   <---*-----*------*------*--------------------------------------------->
14.04 R    |==========|v               
14.10 E          |==========|v               
15.04 E                 |==========|v               
15.10 E                       |=============|v            
16.04 E                                |=========================================|
16.04 SP                               <---*-----*------*------*--------------------------------------------->
16.04 R                                |==========|v               
16.10 E                                      |==========|v               
17.04 E                                             |==========|v               
17.10 E                                                   |=============|v            
18.04 E                                                            |=========================================|
}}}