Linux kernel 5.0.21 is the last release in the series

Jun 4, 2019 13:10 GMT  ·  By

Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced today that the Linux 5.0 kernel series reached end of life, urging users to upgrade to the most recent stable series.

Released two months ago, on March 4th, 2019, by Linus Torvalds, the Linux 5.0 kernel series was long anticipated by the Linux community, but it was only the version number that was a major thing, as Linux kernel 5.0 didn't brought any major changes, nor it was a long-term support release.

Linux kernel 5.0.21 was released today as the last maintenance update for the Linux 5.0 kernel series, which means that no further updates or security patches will be provided for it. Therefore, users are urged to upgrade to the latest Linux 5.1 kernel series as soon as possible.

"I'm announcing the release of the 5.0.21 kernel. All users of the 5.0 kernel series must upgrade," said Greg Kroah-Hartman in a mailing list announcement. "Note, this is the LAST 5.0.y kernel to be released. It is now end-of-life. Please move to the 5.1.y kernel tree at this point in time."

Upgrade to Linux kernel 5.1 now

If you're using a GNU/Linux distribution powered by the Linux 5.0 kernel series, you must update it now to the latest Linux kernel 5.0.21 release and consider upgrading your kernel to the most recent Linux 5.1 version (Linux kernel 5.1.7 at the moment of writing) in the coming days.

There are two methods to upgrade your kernel, either by downloading and compiling the source tarball from kernel.org, or by installing the binary packages from the software repositories of your favorite GNU/Linux distribution. Either way, make sure you do it as soon as possible after reading this.