The new kernel is needed for some new hardware i.e. the RN422 and RN424. Rather than have different models on different kernels or spend time backporting support for these models to an older kernel we spent time moving all devices to the new kernel.
Both 4.1 and 4.4 are LTS (Long Term Support) kernels and well supported by the Linux community.
We did a much bigger kernel update in ReadyNAS OS 6.4.0.
6.7 has some bug fixes that would help especially with the RN100 series. With their limited memory the RN100 series are the most susceptible models to OOMing (running Out of Memory) if there's a memory leak.
The new kernel is needed for some new hardware i.e. the RN422 and RN424. Rather than have different models on different kernels or spend time backporting support for these models to an older kernel we spent time moving all devices to the new kernel.
The kernel upgrade is documented in the release notes.
Personally I think keeping the kernel up-to-date is the right strategy, and and keeping OS-6 aligned across all platforms has far more benefits than drawbacks.
@Retired_Member wrote:
Especially updating the linux kernel from 4.1 to 4.4 could be explained a little bit more in detail.
- Why applying it in a minor fw release change from 6.6.1 to 6.7.0?
- What are the benefits in general?
- What could be the caveats in general?
- Do specific models (like RN10X) might have a higher probability for issues caused by that improvement compared to others?
I disagree. Netgear doesn't need to justify these decisions to us, and shouldn't be expected to. Features, Bug Fixes, Warnings, Restriction categories that are already in the release notes is sufficient. Also 6.6 -> 6.7 doesn't signal a "minor" firmware release.
As far as platform-specific issues, the only acceptable answer there that Netgear needs to ensure there aren't any
I do think a more comprehensive list of bugfixes would be helpful.
And they do need to support roll-back to the previous release somehow - saying that you can't go back no matter what for every release is a horrible approach, and simply doesn't work well in an operational environment. Netgear clearly wants the installed base to be on the current software - but if the operational risks of going forward are too high, that just won't happen.
