I am running the aarch64 version of this distro my Raspberry Pi. However, the last update to the Linux kernel was version 5.11.4 back on March 7th as can be seen here: https://archlinuxarm.org/packages/aarch64/linux-aarch64
Is this distribution no longer maintained? Or when can we expect up-to-date kernel versions? Because nearly half a year without any kernel updates, which include security fixes, is not a very good look to be honest.
Posted Sep 3, 2021, 12:49 PM UTC
Yeah the linux-aarch64-chromebook package has been broken since 2019 as well. I really wish this project had more support.
Ubuntu always runs kernels older than most other distributions, your phone runs a 4.X Linux kernel, and some devices still run a 3.X kernel. An older kernel doesn't necessarily mean security flaw.
Also, you can compile and update your kernel for ANY Linux distribution, I updated my ALA kernel last night following this guide:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel/Traditional_compilation
The only difference is the aarch64 kernel image is named Image, not bzImage.
If you start diving into less mainstream distros (ex. Arch, BSD on Pi) you may want to start learning how to set them up from scratch.
aarch64 should still be active although it might not be as active as most other versions.
It's not dead until THEY say it's dead.
And honestly with the rise of ARM devices this will only get more supported. I actually don't use any x86 devices anymore as of January this year
Most packages are being updated, but the linux-aarch64 package seems to be in a sad state. I have adjusted the PKGBUILD to build a newer kernel for my ASUS C101P Chromebook (with a device specific config, as the kernel partition on that device is not big enough otherwise) and that worked quite okay.
I thought about making a PR, but I just don't have nearly enough devices for testing that might break if a bad upgrade lands.
It's a community project, if no one is updating packages either you wait or do it by yourself.
You can also use the linux-raspberry4 package which is based on the LTS branch. It's still a couple of version behind (5.10.60 compared to 5.10.62 from upstream) but it should be fine.
Raspi users should actually use that kernel and not the generic one.
How was I supposed to know this though? I installed the Aarch64 build with the steps listed in their official guide. AFAIK, the generic kernel that is currently installed was the default kernel.
No clue man. I feel like the 64bit install / instructions are a bit shit.
Thats definitely a very good alternative, thank you! How was I supposed to know this though? I installed the Aarch64 build with the steps listed in their official guide. AFAIK, the generic kernel that is currently installed was the default kernel.