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Linux Kernel 3.18 Reaches End of Life (softpedia.com)
prisoninmate quotes a report from Softpedia: Linux kernel 3.18.48 LTS is here and it's the last in the series, which was marked for a January 2017 extinction since mid-April last year. According to the appended shortlog, the new patch changes a total of 50 files, with 159 insertions and 351 deletions. It brings an updated networking stack with Bluetooth, Bridge, IPv4, IPv6, CAIF, and Netfilter improvements, a couple of x86 fixes, and a bunch of updated USB, SCSI, ATA, media, GPU, ATM, HID, MTD, SPI, and networking (Ethernet and Wireless) drivers. Of course, this being the last maintenance update in the series, you are urged to move to a newer LTS branch, such as Linux kernel 4.9 or 4.4, which are far more secure and efficient than Linux 3.18 was. But Linux 3.18 appears to be used by Google and other vendors on a bunch of Android-powered devices, and even some Chromebooks use Linux kernel 3.18 on Chrome OS, so here's what the kernel developer suggests you do if you can't upgrade. "If you are _stuck_ on 3.18 (/me eyes his new phone), well, I might have a plan for you, that first involves you yelling very loudly at your hardware vendor and refusing to buy from them again unless they cut this crap out. After you properly vent to them, drop me an email and let's see what we can come up with, you aren't in this sinking ship alone, and it's obvious your vendor isn't going to help out," said Greg Kroah-Hartman in the mailing list announcement.
Last I checked the Linux kernel had 4672 bugs. Something is clearly wrong with the release process. Imagine if it took an airline 1-2 years to return your lost luggage?
"yelling very loudly at your hardware vendor and refusing to buy from them again unless they cut this crap out"
3.18 was released slightly over 2 years ago (7 Dec 2014). It went LTS 3 months later (2015/3/11). At the time, "it will be supported with patches for at least two more years from today." Now it's gone, less than 2 years later. And, 2 years isn't "long term" by any reasonable definition to begin with. Don't yell loudly at anyone who used it, yell loudly at Greg Kroah-Hartman and the other kernel maintainers for over-promising and under-delivering, who think 2 years is a long time and won't even keep that commitment. 3.16 (LTS) is projected to go to 2020, when it's 5 1/2 years old (kudos to Ben Hutchings, who's a bit more realistic about what "long term" means).
(and of course, anyone the size of Google should be able to put their own resource on maintaining a kernel they chose to use for longer if need be, not that they've figured out how to keep Android devices up-to-date anyway)
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Don't phone manufactures base their kernels on the ones provided by the SoC supplier, like Qualcomm, etc?