Hi Ken - nice to see you here
In Mandriva, there has been much cscussioni on the question of kernel packages. My memory says that there was some kind of consensus: kernels should be automatically proposed for updating like any other package, old kernels should not be automatically un-installed, old kernels should not appear as an orphan, doing urpme <kernel> should also some general clean-up - for instance remove items relative to that kernel from the the boot menu.
I am sure that Mageia behaves correctly with respect to all these points - except the orphan-list. I just verified: in my long list of auto-orphans that I am proposed to eliminate, there are 3 old, but still installed, kernel packages. It is evident: it is imperative that, after installing a new kernel, at least the most recent kernel must remain installed - essential for fallback in case of serious problems. Another aspect of the present problems with the list of orphans
Apropos talking about installing kernel updates: I think to remember that I was struck when in alpha-1 (?) I downloaded and installed a new kernel without getting the corresponding kernel-<something>-latest. At that time I had other worries and forgot the issue. Has this been remarked by somebody else? - but I am far from sure that the problem was not my handling things