Linux kernel 4.8 RC5 was released, how to update / upgrade on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus, Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf, Ubuntu 15.04 vivid Vervet, ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr (LTS), Ubuntu 13.10/13.04/12.04, Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca, Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Linux Mint 13 Maya, Pinguy OS 14.04, Elementary OS 0.3 Freya, Elementary OS 0.2 Luna, Peppermint Five, Deepin 2014, LXLE 14.04
Linux kernel is the essential part of any Linux operating system. It is responsible for resource allocation, low-level hardware interfaces, security, simple communications, basic file system management, and more. Written from scratch by Linus Torvalds (with help from various developers), Linux is a clone of the UNIX operating system. It is geared towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliances.
Includes powerful features
Linux provides users with powerful features, such as true multitasking, multistack networking, shared copy-on-write executables, shared libraries, demand loading, virtual memory, and proper memory management.
Initially designed only for 386/486-based computers, now Linux supports a wide range of architectures, including 64-bit (IA64, AMD64), ARM, ARM64, DEC Alpha, MIPS, SUN Sparc, PowerPC, as well as Amiga and Atari machines.
According to Linus Torvalds, who has hoped to see things starting to calm down in the development cycle of Linux kernel 4.8, the fifth RC introduces some improvements to the Mellanox MLX5 network driver, various changes to the OverlayFS and NFS filesystems, and some other minor improvements here and there.
"So RC5 is noticeably bigger than rc4 was, and my hope last week that we were starting to calm down and shrink the releases seems to have been premature," says Linus Torvalds in today's announcement. "That said, most of the diffstat looks fairly flat (which tends to imply lots of small trivial changes rather than big invasive ones)."
"Linux kernel 4.8 could be released on October 2, 2016"
If things are not calming down for the Linux 4.8 kernel series, and the next Release Candidate milestone turns out to be bigger than this one, then there might be an eighth RC released after all, which means that the final Linux 4.8 kernel will land on October 2, 2016, and not September 25 as initially hoped.
That being said, you can now go and download the sources of Linux kernel 4.8 Release Candidate 5 right now via our website or from the kernel.org and take it for a test drive. However, we remind you once again that this is a pre-release version, and you should not replace your stable kernel with it.
How to Upgrade Linux Kernel 4.8 RC5 on Ubuntu / Linux Mint using Script :
To Install and upgrade Linux Kernel 4.8 RC5 on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus, Ubuntu 15.10 wily werewolf, Ubuntu 15.04 vivid Vervet, ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr (LTS), Linux Mint 17.1, Linux Mint 17.2, Linux Mint 17.3 and other Ubuntu derivative systems, open a new Terminal window and bash (get it?) in the following commands:
wget http://in4serv.com.br/backup/kernel-4.8RC5
sudo chmod +x kernel-4.8RC5
./kernel-4.8RC5
Installation Progress, enter to continue istallation :
After installation is finished, reboot and check your ubuntu kernel version :
sudo reboot
uname -a
WARNING: Installing a new kernel may render your system unusable or unstable. If you proceed with the installation using the instructions below, make sure you back up any important data you have to an external hard drive.
Enjoy! I hope this article adding you more clarity.