On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 01:00:49 +0100, Marco Möller wrote: > On 1/22/25 00:10, George at Clug wrote: > > I apologise, but I do not understand what it is you want to achieve or what > > it is that you are asking. > > > > Can you please give more explanation? > > I want to install the currently highest version of kernel 6.12 from > bookworm-backports to my Bookworm.
The fundamental question is why you want to do this. Is your hardware not supported by the bookworm kernel? Do you *need* this backported kernel? Backports are a set of packages that are created by hand, whenever someone feels like doing so. When you install one, you are cherry-picking it from the available set, manually. The backported kernel that you install will not necessarily receive any security updates, or bug fixes, or anything. > Upon some "apt update && apt upgrade" I > want this kernel to become upgraded whenever in backports becomes available > a higher version of kernel 6.12, like having 6.12.9 and getting 6.12.10. But > I do not want this upgrade to step up to the 6.13 versions. Then you're in luck. That's how backports work. Well, sort of. A kernel package has its own name which contains the kernel ABI (Application Binary Interface) identifier, which determines whether modules can be loaded into it without recompilation. For example, the stable kernel in bookworm currently has the ABI "6.1.0-30-" in its package name. If a minor security update were to be released in which changes are backported to the 6.1.0-30- bookworm kernel, then the new kernel package might also have the same ABI, and in this case the kernel package can just be upgraded to the new version. However, that's pretty rare in practice. Usually kernel security updates come in waves, with a lot of upstream bug fixes grouped in with them, and the whole mess requires a new ABI version. So, the next bookworm kernel might have the 6.1.0-31- ABI. In that case, the kernel package can't just be upgraded. A whole *new* kernel package with a new name has to be installed, and an old kernel package removed (or left in place). The kernels in backports will work the same way. If you install backported kernel linux-image-6.12.0-5-amd64 and there's a big security update which causes linux-image-6.12.0-6-amd64 to be created, then your kernel won't be upgraded automatically. You'll have to install the new kernel (and its corresponding headers, if you have any DKMS modules to build). As the user of a cherry-picked backported kernel, it'll be your own responsibility to be aware of when a new kernel exists, and to install it if you wish. You *definitely* won't get a linux-image-6.13.0-1-amd64 package automatically. Of course, you should still run a stable kernel if you can. It's not yet clear to me whether you're trying to use a backported kernel because you *need* it, or because it has a higher number and you think higher numbers are better.
