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Not a serious question but I'll give a serious answer anyway. The last time I worried over which kernel was used in Debian Stable was... never. If I want a mor

Not a serious question but I'll give a serious answer anyway. The last time I worried over which kernel was used in Debian Stable was... never. If I want a more recent kernel I run Debian unstable (Sid) which currently is at 7.0.12 (the current 'stable' kernel where 7.1 is 'mainline') but on my servers Stable (currently 'Trixie') does just fine with its 6.17.3 kernel. Debian 'Forky' will be released somewhere in 2027 with either a 7.0.x or 7.1.x kernel depending on how things go. The current kernel used in 'testing' (which will become 'stable' on the next release) is 7.0.10.

waych 4mo ago
People don't usually understand that apt allows you to configure multiple sources across versions simultaneously, so you can e.g. run stable, but also selectively install from backports or unstable. To do so, add the sources for trixie-backports and unstable, and add the following configuration (e.g. /etc/apt/preferences.d/trixie-sid-pin) so that the system knows which sources your prefer: # Default to trixie Package: * Pin: release n=trixie Pin-Priority: 990 # Very low priority for sid Package: * Pin: release n=unstable Pin-Priority: 100 # Give backports medium priority Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-backports Pin-Priority: 500 Now the system can access the latest kernel from unstable (and backports), while keeping everything else on stable: # apt policy linux-image-amd64 linux-image-amd64: Installed: 7.0.12-1 Candidate: 7.0.12-2 Version table: 7.0.12-2 500 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64 Packages *** 7.0.12-1 100 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 7.0.10-1~bpo13+1 500 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-backports/main amd64 Packages 6.12.90-2 500 500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security/main amd64 Packages 6.12.86-1 990 990 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Packages I believe the kernel in backports gets updated only after it is live in unstable for at least a week, which lately still feels like forever.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4mo ago
  > People don't usually understand that apt allows you to configure multiple sources across versions simultaneously, so you can e.g. run stable, but also selectively install from backports or unstable. Which is just as well, because that's not generally a good idea unless you really know what you're doing: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_Frank... Granted, the kernel is probably the best thing to do it with, on account of their aggressive stance on compatibility and the narrowness of impact (no .so files in play).
  - tredre3 4mo ago
    Backports are meant to work well along stable packages, but I agree it's definitely not a good idea to start pulling from sid from trixie (for regular packages, kernel is fine), this is asking for a ruined system.
- mayama 4mo ago
  Chaing priority wholesale is not needed just to install kernel image and might break other packages. Just install kernel image from backports after enabling backports. > apt install linux-image-amd64/stable-backports Somehow installing with `trixie-backports` isn't picking up latest kernel for me. Used what is being displayed in `apt search linux-image-7`
yjftsjthsd-h 4mo ago
> The last time I worried over which kernel was used in Debian Stable was... never. It was briefly a little annoying to deal with wireguard. But it was only a bit annoying, and then they updated. That's the only time I recall specifically caring.
- hagbard_c 4mo ago
  Yes, when that was a thing I just compiled the wireguard module myself to feed it to the virtual router. It was only needed for a short interval and was thereafter handled by dkms, i.e. no problem.

waych 4mo ago

People don't usually understand that apt allows you to configure multiple sources across versions simultaneously, so you can e.g. run stable, but also selectively install from backports or unstable. To do so, add the sources for trixie-backports and unstable, and add the following configuration (e.g. /etc/apt/preferences.d/trixie-sid-pin) so that the system knows which sources your prefer: # Default to trixie Package: * Pin: release n=trixie Pin-Priority: 990 # Very low priority for sid Package: * Pin: release n=unstable Pin-Priority: 100 # Give backports medium priority Package: * Pin: release n=trixie-backports Pin-Priority: 500 Now the system can access the latest kernel from unstable (and backports), while keeping everything else on stable: # apt policy linux-image-amd64 linux-image-amd64: Installed: 7.0.12-1 Candidate: 7.0.12-2 Version table: 7.0.12-2 500 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable/main amd64 Packages *** 7.0.12-1 100 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 7.0.10-1~bpo13+1 500 500 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-backports/main amd64 Packages 6.12.90-2 500 500 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security/main amd64 Packages 6.12.86-1 990 990 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie/main amd64 Packages I believe the kernel in backports gets updated only after it is live in unstable for at least a week, which lately still feels like forever.

yjftsjthsd-h 4mo ago
> People don't usually understand that apt allows you to configure multiple sources across versions simultaneously, so you can e.g. run stable, but also selectively install from backports or unstable. Which is just as well, because that's not generally a good idea unless you really know what you're doing: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_FrankenDebian https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_Frank... Granted, the kernel is probably the best thing to do it with, on account of their aggressive stance on compatibility and the narrowness of impact (no .so files in play).
- tredre3 4mo ago
  Backports are meant to work well along stable packages, but I agree it's definitely not a good idea to start pulling from sid from trixie (for regular packages, kernel is fine), this is asking for a ruined system.
mayama 4mo ago
Chaing priority wholesale is not needed just to install kernel image and might break other packages. Just install kernel image from backports after enabling backports. > apt install linux-image-amd64/stable-backports Somehow installing with `trixie-backports` isn't picking up latest kernel for me. Used what is being displayed in `apt search linux-image-7`

yjftsjthsd-h 4mo ago

> The last time I worried over which kernel was used in Debian Stable was... never. It was briefly a little annoying to deal with wireguard. But it was only a bit annoying, and then they updated. That's the only time I recall specifically caring.

hagbard_c 4mo ago
Yes, when that was a thing I just compiled the wireguard module myself to feed it to the virtual router. It was only needed for a short interval and was thereafter handled by dkms, i.e. no problem.