How To Install kernel on CentOS 8
Introduction
In this tutorial we learn how to install kernel on CentOS 8.
What is kernel
This is the package which provides the Linux kernel for CentOS. It is based on upstream Linux at version 4.18.0 and maintains kABI compatibility of a set of approved symbols, however it is heavily modified with backports and fixes pulled from newer upstream Linux kernel releases. This means this is not a 4.18.0 kernel anymore from newer upstream linux versions, while maintaining a well tested and stable core. Some of the components/backports that may be pulled in are updates to the core kernel (eg. fixes and features), updates to block layer, supported filesystems, major driver updates for supported hardware in CentOS, enhancements for enterprise customers, etc.
We can use yum or dnf to install kernel on CentOS 8. In this tutorial we discuss both methods but you only need to choose one of method to install kernel.
Install kernel on CentOS 8 Using dnf
Update yum database with dnf using the following command.
sudo dnf makecache --refresh
The output should look something like this:
CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream 43 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS 65 kB/s | 3.9 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease 43 kB/s | 3.0 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras 23 kB/s | 1.5 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack 40 kB/s | 3.0 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability 36 kB/s | 3.9 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus 24 kB/s | 1.5 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools 50 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:00
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64 13 kB/s | 9.2 kB 00:00
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64 24 kB/s | 8.5 kB 00:00
Metadata cache created.
After updating yum database, We can install kernel using dnf by running the following command:
sudo dnf -y install kernel
Install kernel on CentOS 8 Using yum
Update yum database with yum using the following command.
sudo yum makecache --refresh
The output should look something like this:
CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream 43 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS 65 kB/s | 3.9 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - ContinuousRelease 43 kB/s | 3.0 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - Extras 23 kB/s | 1.5 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - FastTrack 40 kB/s | 3.0 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - HighAvailability 36 kB/s | 3.9 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - Plus 24 kB/s | 1.5 kB 00:00
CentOS Linux 8 - PowerTools 50 kB/s | 4.3 kB 00:00
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64 13 kB/s | 9.2 kB 00:00
Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64 24 kB/s | 8.5 kB 00:00
Metadata cache created.
After updating yum database, We can install kernel using yum by running the following command:
sudo yum -y install kernel
How To Uninstall kernel on CentOS 8
To uninstall only the kernel package we can use the following command:
sudo dnf remove kernel
kernel Package Contents on CentOS 8
References
Summary
In this tutorial we learn how to install kernel on CentOS 8 using yum and dnf.