Ubuntu – After removing the latest kernel, how can I be notified of kernel updates again

aptkernelupdates

Yesterday, I updated all packages through the software updater. It installed kernel 3.13.0-35. When I rebooted, I would get a completely unresponsive blank screen, so I went back to the Grub menu and I booted into the previous kernel: 3.13.0-34. Basically, 35 just wouldn't work and 34 would.

Then I uninstalled the latest kernel like so:

sudo apt-get remove 3.13.0-35

Now my question is two-fold:

  1. The Software Updater does not show me any kernel updates now. Is this normal?
  2. How can I be informed of kernel updates again (through the software updater)?

I feel that uninstalling 3.13.0-35 has somehow disabled kernel updates completely.

Output of sudo update-grub:

Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-34-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-34-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-33-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-33-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-32-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.elf
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows 8 (loader) on /dev/sda1
done

Best Answer

The metapackages that depend on the actual kernel packages got removed when you removed the actual packages. These metapackages are used to signal availability of new kernel versions. For the moment, install old versions:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic=<old-version>

You can find out the old version available using apt-cache policy linux-generic.

A sample output of the policy looks like:

$ apt-cache policy linux-generic
linux-generic:
  Installed: 3.13.0.34.40
  Candidate: 3.13.0.34.40
  Version table:
 *** 3.13.0.34.40 0
        500 http://mirror.cse.iitk.ac.in/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main amd64 Packages        500 http://mirror.cse.iitk.ac.in/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     3.13.0.24.28 0
        500 http://mirror.cse.iitk.ac.in/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages

From the version table, I have 3.13.0.34.40 and 3.13.0.24.28 available, and the former is installed. So to get the metapackage for the older version, I can do:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic=3.13.0.24.28
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