14 DAY TRIAL // The Ubuntu kernel team has upgraded the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) to version 4.4.1 and is also tracking future updates for this branch.
A couple of weeks have passed since the new Linux kernel 4.4 branch was pushed into the repositories for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. It's already available in the daily builds, so the distribution is a little bit more stable thanks to it.
For the first time in quite a while, the Ubuntu kernel team finally gets to use a kernel version that is not going to reach EOL (end of life) soon after the release of the distribution. This was a problem for some of the previous versions, but now the Ubuntu schedule and the Linux kernel schedule have been in sync, although we suspect that it's just a random occurrence.
Linux kernel 4.4.1 has arrived
It's not clear when this upgrade was done, but the new kernel is here, so if you're running the latest development build of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus), you can now get it.
"Our Xenial kernel remains based on v4.4.1 and is available for testing in the archive, ie linux-4.4.0-2.16. Please test and let us know your results. Also, as an early reminder, Xenial Kernel Freeze is Thurs, April 7. We encourage anyone needing kernel patches pulled into Xenial to please submit them well in advance of Kernel Freeze to allow for as much testing as possible," Canonical's Joseph Salisbury explained in his regular weekly report.
If you're going to check for the Linux kernel version, you need to keep in mind that once a version is adopted by Ubuntu, it no longer keeps the same version number. For example, the current 4.4.1 version will be seen in Ubuntu as 4.4.0-2.16.
Commits for the Linux kernel in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) will be accepted in the coming months, so it's very likely that the 4.4.x branch will get some more updates.