Find Current Stable Kernel (HWE) for Ubuntu 14.04.2

14.04kernelupgrade

This question is related to this one also. So I want to understand how do I find the last stable kernel for Ubuntu 14.04.2? Because with point release 2 it still confuses me. This is my current kernel:

apt-cache policy linux-image-`uname -r`
linux-image-3.16.0-30-generic:
  Installed: 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1
  Candidate: 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

As you know 14.04.2 is shipped with 3.16.0.30 kernel, though when I run:

apt-cache policy linux-image-generic

I get:

linux-image-generic:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 3.13.0.52.59
  Version table:
     3.13.0.52.59 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main i386 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main i386 Packages
     3.13.0.24.28 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main i386 Packages

What's the point of installing linux-image-generic if it shows kernels older than I'm even currently running?

Next, if I run:

apt-cache policy linux-image* | grep -i 14.04.1

I'll get listed with lots of kernels newer than mine. e.g.:

Candidate: 3.16.0-36.48~14.04.1
     3.16.0-36.48~14.04.1 0

Candidate: 3.16.0-34.47~14.04.1
     3.16.0-34.47~14.04.1 0

And if I run:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

It does nothing, the kernel stays the same. How should I behave in this situation? Should I upgrade the kernel manually?

UPDATE

Thanks to @Oli I finally solved my issue that confused me for a long time. In point release 2 of 14.04 LTS to check the current available HWE kernel:

apt-cache policy linux-generic-lts-utopic

it'll relpy e.g.:

linux-generic-lts-utopic:
  Installed: 3.16.0.37.29
  Candidate: 3.16.0.37.29
   Version table:
 *** 3.16.0.37.29 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main i386 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

If it has newer candidate you can upgrade it using the commands in the answer below.

Best Answer

LTS "point releases" often ship the latest hardware enablement stack. These are the Kernel, X server and graphics driver versions from the latest non-LTS, backported to the LTS. This allows people to keep using the same old software, supported for a long time, but with modern hardware support (and performance boosts from newer drivers/kernel/etc).

But these improvements aren't automatic. 14.04 users have to opt-in with something like:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-utopic xserver-xorg-lts-utopic libgl1-mesa-glx-lts-utopic libegl1-mesa-drivers-lts-utopic

These meta-packages either install packages alongside (ie kernels) or replace older versions with provides metadata, in a way that stock 14.04 wouldn't auto-upgrade to. This is why linux-image-generic still points to the stock [but maintained] 14.04 Kernel version.

Getting back to your question, to get the latest version —and keep getting regular updates— you need to install the latest HWE meta-package. These are keyed to the release they represent so there isn't a nice automated way of achieving this; you have to rub some brain cells together. Currently the latest is Utopic (Vivid should be here soonish) so for now, you can just run:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-lts-utopic

Though I'd probably recommend taking X and your graphics drivers along for the ride too.

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