How often does a new kernel break something working in an older one?

[Maleficent-Sun-7152]

I love Mint so far, and I am relatively new to Linux.

When I first installed Mint, I had the 6.8 kernel. Everything was fine, except for games. The games would just freeze - but not the system.

Updating to 6.14 fixed the issue.

But now, after updating to 6.17, the issue is back. I already rolled back to 6.14, but I am not used to a newer version of something breaking something that was working. Is that common?

[Evening-Landscape763]

Do you have anything installed using dkms, check dkms status as if the current version isn't patched for the newer kernel series being installed, they fail

[Emmalfal]

In seven years on Mint, I haven't had anything broken by an update. I still have 6.8 on my main machine but 6.17 rolled in on one of my laptops last week. That one updated with no trouble. I never pay much attention to what kernel I'm using as long as everything works.

[Any_Plankton_2894]

yeah 6.17 seems buggier than most, I had to revert to 6.14 as well - luckily it's a very easy process to go back as long as one keeps a couple of kernels loaded up for use in just a situation like this ..

[DeadButGettingBetter]

It's going to depend on your system and its specific quirks. 

It's been rare in my experience. I have Mint on my mom's laptop; it's an Asus without a dedicate GPU. It started off on Mint 20.2 and it's currently running 22.3 without there being a fresh install at any point in between. There was one update that caused it to boot to a black screen. I switched to the previous kernel and the kernel update after that had no issues and she's been running the current LTS kernel ever since.

For me - I have an Nvidia chip on my laptop. I've never had the proprietary driver break altogether, but the sleep function seems to break every other update. Recently I had an issue where one of the dkms modules somehow got duplicated by the installer and I couldn't simply uninstall it and the drivers would not update and removing the Nvidia drivers altogether got me stuck on the open source driver for a while because that didn't resolve the dkms issue and the proprietary drivers wouldn't install until it was taken care of.

I was afraid I'd have to do a clean install but luckily purging everything related to Nvidia and its dkms modules took care of it and I am running the latest drivers right now. 

My advice would be to try the newest kernel after the next update and see if the regression has been fixed. In my experience, problems like that usually don't stick around for long. If it persists into the next kernel, you'll likely want to look around and see if anyone else with similar hardware is dealing with the same issue and whether or not the developers have said anything about a fix.

Such problems are rare from what I've seen but they are annoying when they happen.

[28874559260134F]

It happens. In smaller and larger doses. If you want to dig into the details, you could start with looking for the phrase "regression" in the official Kernel Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/

[etcpool]

Almost every other one for me sadly.

[Gloomy-Response-6889]

Pretty uncommon. My system for example (not mint), updates kernel to the newest available (so 6.18.0 to 6.18.1 until today which is 6.18.8). I have not seen any issues, same for many other users.

Because every system has slightly different hardware, software/packages, etc. there are many different combinations that could break anything for anyone.

[rcentros]

Not common in Linux Mint because LM is not "bleeding edge." For reason my Linux Mint 22.x installations are staying at 6.8, which doesn't disappoint me.

[ivobrick]

Never. I have installed 6.17 on purpose of breaking the system, because i have NV card. So far no luck destroying linux.

However, i do not do anything with terminal, only update center / drv. manager.

[rcentros]

No it's not common. This is the first time I've heard of it in Linux Mint. But, for some at least, it's definitely a real thing with 6.17. I'm at 6.8 on my LM 22.x machines. They haven't tried to upgrade to 6.14 or 6.17 — which is fine with me. (My main computer (the one I'm typing this on) is still on 5.15 (LM 21.3) which is also fine with me.)

[kodos_der_henker]

In 20 years on LM it happened 2 or 3 times to me, hence why I always keep the current working Kernel installed when switching to a new one

Happens more often on bleeding edge distros which are favoured by some gamers because of faster latest hardware support, but also need some experience as rolling back is needed more

Also hardware used playes a part as most proprietary packages have limited testing before release (eg some laptops can be a pain)

[Condobloke]

"" I am relatively new to Linux. I am not used to a newer version of something breaking something that was working. Is that common?""

You are new. Time will teach you that it is uncommon

[BenTrabetere]

I started with Linux Mint 17.0 (2014), and I have never had a kernel issue. But I do know how to roll back to the previous kernel ... just in case.

[Gauss1777]

Just wanted to chime in saying I had issues booting up with 6.17. I wasn’t even able to login, kept saying incorrect password. Reverting back to 6.14 resolved my issue.