Does upgrading Ubuntu kernel change its release name?

Solution 1:

Ubuntu releases and the kernel versions are independent from each other.

Open a terminal and check the Ubuntu release version with this command :

lsb_release -a  

The output shows something like :

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 15.10
Release:    15.10
Codename:   wily

Open a terminal and check the running kernel version with this command :

uname -r  

The output shows something like :

4.2.0-22-generic  

This was a PC running Ubuntu 15.10 - here is a PC running Ubuntu 14.04 :
If you opt into the hardware enablement stack for Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty),
the outputs will show that the release still is 14.04 and the kernel is 3.19.

lsb_release -a  

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS
Release:    14.04
Codename:   trusty  

uname -r  

3.19.0-42-generic

Solution 2:

Upgrading your LTS release to a newer kernel line does not change the release name.

So you still have Ubuntu 14.04 trusty.

See about HWE

LTS releases allow to install kernels from non-LTS main releases.

linux-generic-lts-wily installs the kernel from 15.10 "wily" release. It will be default in Ubuntu 14.04.4.

This may be a bit confusing.