mintupdate and kernel levels

Linux Mint 22 / published / guide #55 / ≈ 4 min read

Mint's update tool — Update Manager, or mintupdate at the command line — is more opinionated than Ubuntu's. It groups updates into levels and lets you handpick what to install. This guide explains those levels, how to make smart choices, and how Mint thinks about kernel updates specifically.

Open the Update Manager

Menu → Update Manager. Or in a terminal: mintupdate. (Both run the same program.)

You'll see a list of pending updates, each with a numbered level from 1 to 3 and a colour-coded type.

What the levels mean

  • Level 1 — Mint's own packages. Critical fixes from the Mint team.
  • Level 2 — Ubuntu base packages — recommended, tested by Mint.
  • Level 3 — Ubuntu base packages — not tested by Mint, but generally safe.

Older versions of Mint had 4 and 5 levels for "kernel" and "may break things." Modern Mint folds those into the type column (kernel, security, software) rather than a level.

Default behaviour: install all levels. You can change this in Preferences if you want to be more conservative.

The Preferences screen — worth a look

Edit menu → Preferences. The interesting tabs:

  • Options — pick which update types to include automatically.
  • Automation — schedule auto-installs of security updates (great for laptops you don't want to think about).
  • Blacklisted packages — packages you've explicitly told the updater to ignore. (Right-click a package in the main list to add it here.)

The kernel section is different

Click View menu → Linux kernels. This is Mint's kernel manager — separate from the regular update list.

You'll see something like:

5.15 series  (HWE)
  5.15.0-105   installed, running
  5.15.0-107   available
6.5 series   (HWE — newer)
  6.5.0-26     installed
  6.5.0-35     available

What's going on:

  • Each Mint release ships with a "stock" kernel for that Ubuntu LTS base.
  • Ubuntu publishes occasional HWE (Hardware Enablement) kernels — newer kernels backported to the LTS. They help with newer hardware (especially Wi-Fi and graphics chips).
  • You can install multiple kernels side by side. The bootloader (GRUB) lets you pick one at boot from the "Advanced options" submenu.

Install a new kernel

Click a kernel from the list — the right-hand pane shows its release notes and an Install button. Click, type your password, wait. After install, reboot. The new kernel becomes the default; old ones remain available from GRUB's Advanced submenu.

Remove an old kernel

Same screen — pick a kernel marked installed, click Remove. Mint won't let you remove the kernel you're currently running.

Removing old kernels frees ~300 MB each. Useful on small /boot partitions, which can fill up.

From the command line

uname -r                                          # which kernel am I running
apt list --installed | grep linux-image            # all installed kernels
sudo apt install linux-image-6.5.0-35-generic      # install one
sudo apt autoremove --purge                       # clean up unused

autoremove on Mint, like on Debian, removes packages that were installed only as dependencies of something that's gone. Includes old kernels marked obsolete by Mint.

When to update your kernel

  • New hardware doesn't work (Wi-Fi card, NVIDIA card, fingerprint reader) — try a newer HWE kernel. There's a decent chance it adds support.
  • Security advisory affects yours — Mint will flag it in the update list. Install.
  • Otherwise — leave the kernel alone. The stable kernel that came with your Mint release is plenty.

Lock a package to a specific version

If an update breaks something and you're waiting for a fix, right-click the package in the update list → Ignore updates for this package. The package is added to your blacklist; the updater will skip it.

From the terminal: sudo apt-mark hold packagename. Undo with sudo apt-mark unhold packagename.

What if an update broke things?

This is what Timeshift snapshots are for (see the Timeshift on Mint guide). Roll back the system, file a bug report on the Mint forums or Launchpad, and wait for a fixed update before trying again.

The cron-friendly version: unattended-upgrades

For a Mint server (or a laptop you really don't want to think about), you can install Debian's automatic-updates package:

sudo apt install unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades

Answer Yes. From then on, security updates are installed automatically — same as on Debian. The Update Manager still works for everything else, but it stops nagging about security ones.

Daily routine, summarised

If you remember nothing else: open the Update Manager once a week, click Install Updates. That's it. Mint takes care of you.

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