Linux restart after update... LOL | Hacker News Reader

Linux restart after update... LOL

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2 pointsmalladye8 comments

If the core of the OS gets updated, it's not unrealistic to require restart of it in order to start using the updated version.

In Linux, that means the kernel and possibly few other core packages, and if that's unacceptable for any reason, there's the magic of http://www.ksplice.com/ to help you out.

As an example, I have just updated the (intel) video driver in my desktop Ubuntu 10.10, and got no prompt to reinstall (arguably, it might be good for the system to ask me to relogin in order to start using the updated drivers - but it didn't). So in this regard, I haven't seen Ubuntu behaving worse than any other Linux distributions (and, I suppose, other normal operating systems), and behaves quite reasonably.

With the added benefit that, if the change is limited in scope, just restarting the subsystem it touches is fine, no need to reboot. The new libraries will be in use the next time they are loaded.

IIRC, you can't do that with Windows or OSX without some serious convolutions (rebooting often being easier)

Windows often requires restart, which is annoying, but let's face it, not that important. Linux seldom requires restart update (after kernel update mostly), but than again, do we really need 100% uptime for a desktop?

A major difference, and really a big fault on Windows, is constant nagging to reboot, with window that pops up every 10 minutes or so. Ubuntu has really good visual cue (power off applet turns to red, see upper right corner) but allows the user to make that decision to restart when convenient.

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For a predominantly desktop oriented distro like Ubuntu 100% uptime is an unnecessary complexity. Switching kernels without taking the machine down isn't straight forward. A kernel update is the only reason the updater will advise a restart.

And for minor kernel changes, BTW, a restart is not been required for quite some time now.

And Ubuntu on servers is starting to become more attractive than Debian. I set up a Ubuntu media encoder under a Debian/lxc controller and it's remarkable how straightforward it was to assemble (with custom ffmpeg stuff)

Ubuntu really lowers the bart...

Still I use it daily

It really depends on what was updated. Without more information, it's hard to judge whether the restart is needed or not.

Also, the machine is running Windows. Who wants long uptimes under that?

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