About mainline kernel builds

Warning

Mainline build kernels are not supported and never receive security updates. Mainline build kernels are not suitable for production use. Remove them once you’ve finished testing. Support is not provided to users who are running mainline build kernels outside of diagnostic uses.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team publishes builds from upstream kernel source on a best effort basis, using Ubuntu kernel configuration files and packaging the result as .deb files. These mainline builds let you compare an issue with upstream kernel code.

Ubuntu kernels include Ubuntu-specific patches and configuration, so they differ from mainline builds. Comparing the two can help determine whether an issue is specific to Ubuntu’s changes or is also present upstream. A mainline build is a diagnostic comparison, not a replacement for an Ubuntu kernel.

Module compatibility

Differences in the kernel interface and toolchain used to build kernels mean that modules built for an Ubuntu kernel might not work with a mainline build.

To compare kernels in a bug investigation, see How to test a bug with a mainline kernel. For the mainline archive structure, see Mainline kernel archive.