I thought a kernel update required a reboot

D

Deadjasper

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 28, 2001
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Mint Cinnamon 20.2. Just had a kernel update come down the tubes and after the install it said nothing about a reboot required. Never seen this before. I went ahead and rebooted for S&G but still can't help wondering why this one was different. :confused:
 
It's not generally required, although it is recommended. Weird stuff can happen if you update the kernel and then plug in a USB device, for example, if the driver was updated and doesn't match the running kernel anymore.

Usually nothing breaks as long as libc, glibc, etc. aren't updated. Any change to those libraries generally requires a reboot, or else stuff starts breaking.
 
Nobu said:
It's not generally required, although it is recommended. Weird stuff can happen if you update the kernel and then plug in a USB device, for example, if the driver was updated and doesn't match the running kernel anymore.

Usually nothing breaks as long as libc, glibc, etc. aren't updated. Any change to those libraries generally requires a reboot, or else stuff starts breaking.
Click to expand...
DKMS modules get wonky w/o a reboot, too. Especially with NVIDIA. Whenever I compile a new kernel version & associated DKMS modules, I reboot when possible since I don't want GPU-related apps to crash or not run.
 
All the major commercial distros support some form of live patching these days.

Mint I don't believe does out of the box unless they changed something. Live patching can be added to pretty much any distro... having said that your running a desktop machine. Just reboot. :) its far less of a PITA.
If you however have a server you never ever want to have to reboot for maintenance lifepatching has been a thing for a few years now... as Crimson has pointed out thought bolt on things like Nvidia drivers will probably cause you more pain then its worth.

Most likely it just didn't promote you to reboot or you closed it off without paying attention. In general no distros I have seen ever force you to reboot... you just continue on running on the old kernel until you reboot.
 
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