Should I upgrade my kernel?

[lupin]

Whenever a security update is introduced into the main Ubuntu repositories, we "grab" it and review it for one week in our testing repo as we do with any package which ubutnu devs maintain to make sure that it will not break any aspect of backtrack.

Now I have a question

From what I recall, BackTrack 4 was using Ubuntu 8.10 base packages. Ubuntu releases that are not designated LTS have an 18 month support cycle, which means that with the release of lucid back in April, there would be no more security updates for the Ubuntu 8.10 packages. How are BackTrack security patches now "grabbed" from Ubuntu? Are you actually getting different package versions than 8.10 and I just misremembered this as the base package version, or is there some other strategy in place?

[Archangel-Amael]

Compiling your own kernel can be an excellent learning experience, so Id recommend it IF you are willing to troubleshoot any issues yourself AND if you know how to recover from problems (or are willing to bork your BackTrack install).

I wanted to make a comment on this and my original comment to the OP.
OP I meant the first post in regards to getting help. However I too agree (and maybe should have posted ) that recompiling a kernel is a great learning experience!
I just don't want those who read this thread think that we recommend people especially those who can't figure out how to start networking to go and start trying to recompile their kernels.


Any rate if you do give it a go, do as others have said and use a vm or USB for practice.

[sickness]

Even if you want to recompile your kernel do it in a VMware or something like that.

[it30rivers]

There is some really great info in this thread. thanks for all of your input. I think i will have a go at it in a VM in a few weeks after exams and after i sort some other stuff out. i've been doing a lot of reading here on the forum and I've got about 18 books about linux i have yet to read. i'm hoping the info in the books i have are as valuable as what is here on the forum.

I also agree that messing around with something is a vital key to understanding it. (trying to keep it safe and some place where it wont do any extra damage is always a good idea)

[Nocdem]

please dont mix installing pre compiled kernel and compiling it yourself which are 2 different things. in first one u download the 3 precompiled stuff and dpkg-i linux* and viola its installed (generally) but downloading the kernel from kernel.org and compiling it is a different thing. the first one is doable but i d say dont do the 2nd one unless u need specific hardware stuff (eg striping all drivers from kernel and installing it on a floppy with iptables and make it a firewall or some other hardware support as in lowpy wireless cards etc etc etc)