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Canonical Announces Livepatch Support for Ubuntu Hardware Enablement Kernels

Posted by Marius Nestor on Apr 14, 2023,

updated Apr 15, 2023

Until now, Canonical offered its Livepatch service to Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) systems running the standard Linux kernel that came with the initial release. In case you didn’t know, Livepatch lets you apply Linux kernel updates on your Ubuntu system without restarting it for uninterrupted service and minimal downtime.

Of course, Livepatch makes sense mostly in Ubuntu Server installations, but it may also come in handy in mission-critical systems, and it’s supported for up to 10 years. Canonical offers the Livepatch service as part of its Ubuntu Pro offering, which is available for free for up to 5 computers or up to 50 machines for official Ubuntu Community members.

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Neowin and OMG Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Livepatch for HWE Linux kernels coming soon

For those not familiar with Livepatch, it’s a service available to customers with an Ubuntu Pro subscription. If you don’t have a subscription it can be enabled on five of your personal machines. With this enabled, you are able to get the latest kernel updates installed on your computer without having to reboot. Linux kernel updates are one of the very few packages that typically require a restart in Ubuntu but with Livepatch there’s no need to restart.

Canonical Bringing Livepatch Support to HWE Kernels

Livepatch is a feature only available on long-term support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu for users with an active Ubuntu Pro subscription. When enabled, Livepatch allows users to install kernel updates (on eligible machines) without needing to reboot after.

Extending the number of kernels covered by the feature is an important move, albeit one aimed at enterprise, server, and business customers. While being asked to reboot to finish applying kernel updates is common, it’s not something Ubuntu desktop users typically mind.