A new version of /boot/grub/menu.lst is available

Question

I am updating my EC2 ubuntu server packages and I have come up against this warning prompt. I am unsure what to do. It has highlighted the keep the local version currently installed but I am not sure if I should choose that or choose the install the package maintainer's version. What will happen in if choose keep the local version currently installed - will this take my server down?

A new version of /boot/grub/menu.lst is available, but the version installed currently has been locally modified.

What would you like to do about menu.lst?
│ │ install the package maintainer's version
│ │ keep the local version currently installed
│ │ show the differences between the versions
│ │ show a side-by-side difference between the versions
│ │ show a 3-way difference between available versions
│ │ do a 3-way merge between available versions (experimental)
│ │ start a new shell to examine the situation

If I show the diff between two versions this is what I get:

Line by line differences between versions                                           │ 
                                             │                                                                                     │ 
                                             │ --- /run/grub/menu.lst root.root 00000000-0009292                           │ 
                                             │ +++ /tmp/file8QTuUY root.root 12312312000-00123                              │ 
                                             │ @@ -3,11 +3,9 @@                                                                    │ 
                                             │  title Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS, kernel 4.4.0-83-generic                                  │ 
                                             │  root (hd0)                                                                         │ 
                                             │  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic root=LABEL=cloudimg-rootfs ro console=hvc0   │ 
                                             │ -initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-83-generic                                           │ 
                                             │                                                                                     │ 
                                             │  title Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS, kernel 4.4.0-83-generic (recovery mode)                  │ 
                                             │  root (hd0)                                                                         │ 
                                             │  kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-83-generic root=LABEL=cloudimg-rootfs ro single         │ 
                                             │ -initrd /boot/initrd.img-4.4.0-83-generic                                           │ 
                                             │                                                                                     │ 
                                             │  ### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST 

Answer 1

You should keep the existing file for safety reason. But as such even if you use the maintainer's version it won't make a difference

Is it possible to boot the Linux kernel without creating an initrd image?

initrd/initramfs is optional and not a requirement. bzImage is the pure kernel image and can be booted directly by the bootloader. However it might be neccesary to execute some tasks (loading filesystem modules, drivers for disk access, mounting the root file system from some exchangeable media without fixed name/path, etc.) that would usually require access to a filesystem and userspace tools.