Now, when Linus Torvalds released Linux 3.0-rc many people are trying to update to this version. I did it recently on one of my machines and decided to share instructions with others.
For Ubuntu ‘natty’ 11.04 users the easiest way is to use packages from ‘oneiric’ 11.10 release. There are few ways of doing that.
Grab packages way
Not best option but easy do to and does not require lot of work — just need to grab three packages:
- Linux 3.0 kernel image — select newest version and required flavour (generic/server/virtual)
- module-init-tools — version 3.13 is required to get modules working, 3.16 is now available in oneiric
- procps — to make ‘ps’ not complain due to lack of 3rd digit in kernel version
Then install resulting debs and reboot computer.
APT pinning way
This method requires editing system configuration but is nicer. You need to create file (‘30-pinning’ for example) in /etc/apt/preferences.d/ directory with this contents:
Package: *
Pin: release n=natty
Pin-Priority: 900
Package: *
Pin: release n=oneiric
Pin-Priority: 800
This will tell APT that packages from ‘natty’ 11.04 release are what we want but ‘oneiric’ 11.10 ones can also be installed.
Then next step is adding ‘oneiric’ repositories. I did it by going to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory and making copy of ‘natty.list’ as ‘oneiric.list’ + search/replace ‘natty’ -> ‘oneiric’. Then use your preferred package manager frontend and install packages from first method — with “apt-get” it would be:
apt-get install -t oneiric linux-image-3.0-1-generic module-init-tools
apt-get install -t oneiric procps
funny note
My machine has two 50mm fans which were very loud with 2.6.39 kernel (something ~4700rpm). Under 3.0-rc3 they are unnoticeable at 1700-2700rpm only.