Which kernel is the most stable/secure - 6.1/6.6/6.7? Should I wait for 6.8?

[DVE]

Sorry for a n00b questions but I'm confused with Armbian version names 😀

 

1) I'm using an ARMhf board with a Jammy 6.6. I see ports.ubuntu.com in Apt log. But on which kernel is it based? On the Ubuntu website, I don't see a 6.6 kernel at all. Or is it a kernel from https://www.kernel.org?

 

In armbian-config I see 6.1, 6.6, and 6.7 versions available for download, but all of them are also not listed on Ubuntu's website. Which is the most stable and recommended Armbian version to use? 

 

2) Which version is the next after Jammy? Noble? On the Ubuntu website, I see v24.04, on the Armbian website I see v24.5. Why Armbian version is newer than Ubuntu, is Armbian using its own numbers that are not compatible?

 

3) Are there any plans for releasing kernel 6.8? It is the only LTS after 5.15 mentioned on https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle.

 

Thanks

[Igor]

3 hours ago, DVE said:

I see ports.ubuntu.com in Apt log. But on which kernel is it based? On the Ubuntu website, I don't see a 6.6 kernel at all. Or is it a kernel from https://www.kernel.org

 

Kernel is taken from www.kernel.org (or from hardware vendors or some other places) and it is heavily modified. Armbian build framework flexibility allow us to ship any combination of user-space with any kernel. We choose what is best, but you are free to change it to something else. We have very little with Ubuntu or Debian when its about kernel.

 

3 hours ago, DVE said:

Which is the most stable and recommended Armbian version to use? 

Latest version, stable / LTS user space (in case of Ubuntu smell, rather Jammy then Noble), current kernel. Otherwise, in general, this is custom hardware world - depending on hardware and use use case. Always.
 

3 hours ago, DVE said:

Why Armbian version is newer than Ubuntu, is Armbian using its own numbers that are not compatible?

 

This is still valid to this day:

https://docs.armbian.com/#what-is-the-difference-between-armbian-and-debianubuntu

 

Armbian kernel lives its independent life. We provide Linux distribution that looks and its compatible with Ubuntu or / and Debian. So you can follow instructions as such https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials and they will work perfectly the same as Debian / Ubuntu. You just need to match upstream Debian / Ubuntu versions.
 

3 hours ago, DVE said:

on the Armbian website I see v24.5

 

That is Armbian release version:
https://docs.armbian.com/Process_Release-Model/#release-naming

This is build log for one such release, so you can see what we do:
https://docs.armbian.com/Release_Changelog/#v2451-2025-25-5

 

Which usually include latest LTS version of Ubuntu user space + Armbian kernel or latest Debian stable + Armbian kernel. Our focus is hardware support which means hardware interface on our Debian and Ubuntu is binary identical and also significantly better then from what is shipped by Ubuntu or Debian. Armbian Jammy and Armbian Noble = assembled from Ubuntu user space applications packages., Armbian Bookworm and Armbian Trixie = assembled from Debian user space applications packages.

 

Does this answers your questions?

[DVE]

14 hours ago, Igor said:

Which usually include latest LTS version of Ubuntu user space + Armbian kernel or latest Debian stable + Armbian kernel. ... Does this answers your questions?

Thanks for the answer.

What I see on Ubuntu's website: there are only 5.15 and 6.8 kernel LTS versions.

 

5.15 (Focca?) is not supported by Armbian anymore, and 6.8 is not available in the armbian-config for my board (Sunxi/ARMhf) yet. So for now, there is just no LTS? I will wait for a next version

Edited June 11 by DVE

[going]

32 минуты назад, DVE сказал:

What I see on Ubuntu's website: there are only 5.15 and 6.8 kernel LTS versions.

For Armbian, long-term support is what is here: https://kernel.org/

The kernel is named "current" and it is always the largest version. Today it is 6.6.

 

37 минут назад, DVE сказал:

So for now, there is just no LTS? I will wait for a next version

You can wait or you can do it yourself. The infrastructure is present.

[Igor]

1 hour ago, DVE said:

What I see on Ubuntu's website: there are only 5.15 and 6.8 kernel LTS versions.

Please ignore Ubuntu kernel versions as they are not relevant here. We only use their user space package as its a bit of nonsense to build all those packages from sources on our own.

Ubuntu declare LTS support for whole distro. We use packages with long term support combined with our kernel. Which I believe is a perfect combination. Especially in ARM hardware world where Ubuntu kernel can't match with us.

 

1 hour ago, DVE said:

So for now, there is just no LTS?

 

As @going also exposed, we look to kernel org and there, latest LTS is 6.6.y ... which we ship with most platforms. There is no more recent one. 6.8.y is not LTS, but its in fact End Of Life. For everyone. If Ubuntu says otherwise, its probably decision of their marketing department.

 

We ship LTS Ubuntu distro with kernel we select and maintain. It is in almost all cases kernel.org latest LTS + our work.

 

1 hour ago, DVE said:

5.15 (Focca?) is not supported by Armbian anymore

Focal userspace (Ubuntu 20.04) is a bit old and it is not so well maintained anymore (by Ubuntu) as they claim, so we decide to stop providing it. We have no interest nor resources to maintain that very old packages instead of them. Kernel 5.15.y is also slowly going out and I would not recommend to use anything lower then 6.1.y on sunxi platforms.