14 DAY TRIAL // Today, February 8, 2017, renowned Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman put an end to the release cycle of the long-term supported (LTS) Linux 3.18 kernel series by releasing what appears to be the last hotfix.
Linux kernel 3.18.48 LTS is here and is the last in the series, which was marked for a January 2017 extinction since mid-April last year. According to the appended shortlog, the new patch changes a total of 50 files, with 159 insertions and 351 deletions.
It brings an updated networking stack with Bluetooth, Bridge, IPv4, IPv6, CAIF, and Netfilter improvements, a couple of x86 fixes, and a bunch of updated USB, SCSI, ATA, media, GPU, ATM, HID, MTD, SPI, and networking (Ethernet and Wireless) drivers.
You need to upgrade to Linux kernel 4.9 LTS or 4.4 LTS now
Of course, this being the last maintenance update in the series, you are urged to move to a newer LTS branch, such as Linux kernel 4.9 or 4.4, which are far more secure and performant than Linux 3.18 was.
But Linux 3.18 appears to be used by Google and other vendors on a bunch of Android-powered devices, and even some Chromebooks use Linux kernel 3.18 on Chrome OS, so here's what the kernel developer suggests you do if you can't upgrade.
"If you are _stuck_ on 3.18 (/me eyes his new phone), well, I might have a plan for you, that first involves you yelling very loudly at your hardware vendor and refusing to buy from them again unless they cut this crap out."
"After you properly vent to them, drop me an email and let's see what we can come up with, you aren't in this sinking ship alone, and it's obvious your vendor isn't going to help out," continued Greg Kroah-Hartman in the mailing list announcement.
If you still want to use the Linux 3.18 kernel, at least please upgrade to version 3.18.48 as soon as possible. The updated 3.18.y git tree can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary and you can download the tarball right now from kernel.org.