It will use the Linux 4.8 kernel from Ubuntu 16.10

Feb 9, 2017 16:45 GMT  ·  By

Canonical announced today that they are not ready to release the long-anticipated Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system because there are still some minor issues that need to be addressed.

By our count, this is the third time Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS is delayed, and it now looks like it will arrive on Moday at the latest, if no other issues are discovered until then, of course. Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS will be the second point release of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) series and it's the first to come with a HWE (Hardware Enablement) stack from Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak), which means that it will use its Linux 4.8 kernel and graphics stack.

"There are still some bits I need to tidy up to get server images going, but that shouldn't stop people from testing the desktop images," said Adam Conrad, Software Engineer at Canonical, in a mailing list announcement. "I think it's pretty clear, given that I've been working for the last 24h straight and need a nap before diving in again, that we probably won't be releasing on Thursday (ie: today). Friday could still be done, but Monday seems a more reasonable goal."

No PowerPC ISOs for Ubuntu MATE and Lubuntu, nor Alternate images

In a follow-up message, Adam Conrad explained that there won't be PowerPC (PPC) ISO images for the Ubuntu MATE and Lubuntu flavors, due to lack of a PowerPC HWE kernel as Canonical plans on depricating support for this architecture soon. PPC users are recommended to install Ubuntu 16.04 LTS using either the 16.04.0 or 16.04.1 ISO images, but they won't be able to use the new Linux 4.8 kernel on these platforms.

Canonical will still provide LTS support for the Linux 4.4 kernel for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) until the operating system's end of life on April 2021. Furthermore, Adam Conrad says that there won't be Lubuntu Alternate ISO images produced for the HWE point releases of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which will make it a little hard for users with older machines to install Lubuntu.