I have recently realized that by not reading the changelogs I've missed several kernel updates.
8-28-2018 4.4.153 is installed. If I remember correctly I received a notification for that one but not one since. My kernel info is blacklisted .

Since it's been that long since an updated kernel has been applied my question is regarding the approach I should take. Should I use the latest...or do I need to update the kernels in order ?

Thoughts on staying with 4.4.153 until Slackware's next major release ?
I've always ran Slackware Stable but am considering installing Slackware Current next time I have to do a full re-install . I'm using Lilo to boot this Dual-boot ( Slackware / Win 10) box. I almost never use Win 10 ... From what I hear even Current is pretty stable overall, but when things go south what has your been your experience ? And if running Slackware Current do you still do another install of the next major release when available or just keep rolling ?

Thanks.

You can jump to the latest kernel.

Kernels are pretty much independent for rest of the system. If you are not affected by bugs or security issues in old kernel you can stay with it almost as long as you want. Only big problem in "daily use" is glibc, which requires some minimal kernel version. However in current this minimal version is 3.2.0. So even in current your current kernel will not be a problem in perspective of the rest of the system.

If you decide to change kernel, you can choose any version you want to. Only limit is this glibc minimal kernel version.
You can check it in following way:


And the "current". For me it stable. I'm using it since early 2000's. Very rarely something got broken, but it is fixed at most in couple days. So, it will be enough if wait couple days with update which can affect you for make sure it is OK.

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Is your computer 64-bit or 32-bit?

On my 64-bit processors I have had no trouble with any of the 4.4.x kernels which I used.

My 32-bit processor worked fine with 4.4.157, but when 4.4.172 was released and I installed it, I found that the display did not work properly (it would go blank after the 'kernel mode switch'); otherwise, the computer ran fine. I downloaded 4.4.175 (DUSK), and found the display had the same problem.

I have not tested any of the 32-bit kernels past 4.4.175, because I found that 4.19.26 worked as a drop-in replacement.

I use 4.4.153 as my backup kernel. No issues. However, there were some rather major security issues a little while ago, so 4.4.186 would be certainly preferable.

I think it would be best to install 4.4.186 but keep 4.4.153 as a backup.

I've been running -current for a few months on my main laptop with no problems. It's very stable. You have to keep on top of it a bit more than the stable release though. Stable is pretty much 'set it and forget it', whereas before you update -current it's worth reading the changelogs, the forum and then making an informed decision about if and what to update.

I haven't done an update for nearly three weeks now and that's one of the great things about it, you don't have to if things are working for you. It all depends why you're running -current - bleeding edge software/bug reporting or hardware support [in the case of the latter you don't need to update that much, it's really up to you].

Take a look here:

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...nt-4175651859/

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There's also a change to how the kernel was compiled that necessitated a change in gcc, I believe. Might want to run a complete update (don't forget install new and install-multilib, if you're using slackpkg+)

That was already true for 4.4.153, which the OP has. So he should have gcc-5.5 too.
But that is only important if you want to REcompile the kernel or add 3rd party modules (nVidia, VirtualBox, etc) TO that kernel.

Gotcha. I couldn't remember when the change happened.

Wed Feb 7 04:28:48 UTC 2018, concurrant with the 4.4.115 kernel update

None of Slackware's patches require any of the previous patches. However, they may depend on other patches for other programs. Unless you know what can affect what, you should be installing all patches provided for the release of Slackware you're running. If you install only select patches, it could lead to a broken system.

As for -current, if you run -current, you should expect breakage. Breakage within the packages included in -current doesn't happen often (Pat is pretty good about always updating any needed packages, but sometimes one will slip through), but you should expect 3rd-party packages to break occasionally, which would require recompiling at least the broken package and possibly the broken package's dependencies.

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