I compiled 4.6.3 to my satisfaction over 4.5 hoping it'd be another longterm kernel but now it has been taken off the books as it were. I need advice as to what would be the best practice for me now. Should i upgrade to 4.7.6 post-haste or should i let sleeping dogs lie? Everything's working as it should as far as i can tell, in fact, better than ever before on my Sid partition, and i've no new-fangled hardware, but i am perturbed. How does one tell if one day a once listed "stable" kernel will suddenly be discarded by kernel.org and be EOL? For that matter, how does predict which kernel is going to be the next longterm one..before it is announced on phoronix.com that is (now i know that it's going to be 4.9)..is there a pattern? What should i be looking out for when i compile a kernel for longterm use?

Clearly, you are prejudiced against systemd, an erudite member of the 'old guard', no doubt.I am grateful for your advice yet cannot regress.

Compiling a kernel does not take hours any more. And it takes a few minutes of your time. Sometimes useful features are added that affect your existing hardware. For me it makes sense to run an up to date kernel.

My apologies, i mistook your signature for a reply, there was ought else..To say nothing of the fact that i am still starved of an answer..