What's the difference between the three linux-image variants in Ubuntu?

Question

For example, the following command yields generic, server, and virtual.

$ apt-cache search linux-image-3

linux-image-3.0.0-15-generic - Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64
linux-image-3.0.0-15-server - Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86_64
linux-image-3.0.0-15-virtual - Linux kernel image for version 3.0.0 on x86/x86_64

What is the difference between the three?

Answer 1

From the Ubuntu Server FAQ:

The linux-image-server package is a meta package that will install the latest Server kernel version, while the linux-image-generic package is a meta package for the latest Desktop kernel version. The server guide includes some details on the changes made in the Server kernel.

linux-image-server is used for both architectures x86 and amd64.

Which one you should use will depend on the type of system you have. If you have a 64 bit processor you can use the amd64 architecture, or the x86 architecture. However, if your processor is 32 bit you can only use the x86 kernel.

Virtual kernel:

The difference between the Virtual and Server kernels is that the Virtual kernel is intended to be utilized inside a virtual machine. The virtual kernel only includes the necessary drivers to run inside popular virtualization technologies such as KVM, Xen, and VMWare. The server kernel in contrast contains the necessary drivers to work with a wide range of hardware, and should be installed directly on host systems. Other than that, all other options are identical between the server and the virtual kernel.