• Re: Backports (bookworm), upgrade to all x for kernel 6.12.x, but not u

    From Andrew M.A. Cater@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jan 21 21:40:01 2025
    On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 09:17:52PM +0100, Marco M�ller wrote:
    Hello community!
    Could you please share with me, or point me to, a howto or receipt for applying all upgrades to future kernel 6.12.x versions to appear in Bookworm Backports when doing "apt update && apt upgrade", but to not leave the 6.12 (upstream LTS) branch and not upgrade to some higher kernel version like
    6.13 when they would also become available in backports?
    Thanks a lot in advance! Talby.


    Hi

    It is very likely that Debian will stick with 6.12 thoughout the lifetime
    of Debian Trixie / Debian 13 so you should be fine. Since 6.12 is the LTS version, it's unlikely that we'll move forward from it (though I'm not
    the Release Team).

    Hope this helps,

    Andrew Cater
    ([email protected])

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to Andrew M.A. Cater on Tue Jan 21 22:40:01 2025
    On 1/21/25 21:39, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
    On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 09:17:52PM +0100, Marco Möller wrote:
    Hello community!
    Could you please share with me, or point me to, a howto or receipt for
    applying all upgrades to future kernel 6.12.x versions to appear in Bookworm >> Backports when doing "apt update && apt upgrade", but to not leave the 6.12 >> (upstream LTS) branch and not upgrade to some higher kernel version like
    6.13 when they would also become available in backports?
    Thanks a lot in advance! Talby.


    Hi

    It is very likely that Debian will stick with 6.12 thoughout the lifetime
    of Debian Trixie / Debian 13 so you should be fine. Since 6.12 is the LTS version, it's unlikely that we'll move forward from it (though I'm not
    the Release Team).

    Hope this helps,

    Andrew Cater
    ([email protected])


    I am on current "stable" Bookworm (Debian 12) and would like to stay
    with it until Debian 13 is released as the new "stable", but I would
    like to already now take advantage of some features coming with kernel 6.12. That's why I wonder on how to best catch the upgrades for 6.12, if some
    would become available. Watching how kernel versions usually appear in backports I am of good hope to find future 6.12.x versions to appear
    there. The kernel backport team is doing a great job, my special thanks
    to them!
    Then, when Trixie is officially out and most likely coming with 6.12, my upgrade from Bookworm with backports kernel 6.12 to Trixie with kernel
    6.12 should be less of trouble than having my Bookworm with a backports
    kernel already being some 6.13 (or even higher) version.

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to George at Clug on Wed Jan 22 01:10:01 2025
    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. 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.
    For comfortably running the upgrades in an unattended way, I expect that
    I might need some pinning to allow all newer 6.12.x versions to become
    drawn in when available, but to not allow any higher kernel version than 6.12.x, so not allowing any 6.13 to become drawn in.

    It seems to obvious to me, that I should not install from backports the
    package "linux-image-amd64", because this I expect to always point to
    the very newest kernel version, but not restricting to the 6.12 series
    of kernel versions. If there would be a "linux-image-6.12" package, then
    I would be done. Easy. But such "linux-image-6.12" meta-package is not available in bookworm-backports.
    So, I either install now manually a particular version like "/bookworm-backports/kernel/linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64-unsigned" and
    put it on hold and then manually check if some "linux-image-6.12.10+bpo-amd64-unsigned" (or higher
    6.12.maintenanceVersion number) would arrive in the backports repository
    and then upgrade to it manually, repeating this manual procedure very frequently, or I find out how to configure some pinning or whatever for automation of some 6.12 series restricted upgrades.

    My question is what do I have to configure for letting apt upgrade the backported kernel 6.12 automatically to the newest linux-image-6.12.x
    version without upgrading beyond any 6.12 kernel, for instance not automatically upgrading to any backported kernel 6.13.x version.

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  • From George at Clug@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 22 00:20:01 2025
    Marco,

    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?

    You said: "not leave the 6.12 (upstream LTS) branch and not upgrade to some higher kernel version like 6.13 when they would also become available in backports"

    What do you think "backports" are ?

    Have you already installed any backports?

    Why do you not want to install backports?

    Are you saying that you only want to use Debian Bookworm packages?

    And not any packages that are from new releases (e.g. Trixie or Forky) that have been recompiled to be used in Debian Bookworm ? (which I believe is what Backports are).

    If this is correct, then would removing any mention of Backports from your APT sources.list be what you want to do? (others on this list could comment if my suggestion is correct nor not).

    I believe (as with previous discussions about rsync on Debian User), that sometimes security updates are: "packages taken from the next Debian release (called "testing"), adjusted and recompiled for usage on Debian stable."

    Hence if you want to stay secure and use security updates, there will be times when you will be using a package from Testing, ... but it will be "adjusted and recompiled for usage on Debian stable", as are all backports, which is why we use backports and
    not just download a package from Testing and install it.

    Maybe you are concerned that your LTS Bookworm will one day just become Debian Trixie? This is not how Debian works. As long as your sources in APT stays "Bookworm", you should always been at the Bookworm release. To change "Bookworm" to "Trixie", you
    have to manually change your sources and do a full upgrade, then this will change your Debian release.

    https://backports.debian.org/


    https://www.debian.org/releases/
    Index of releases
    Version Code Name Release Date End of Life (EOL) EOL LTS EOL ELTS Status
    14 Forky TBA TBA TBA TBA Codename announced
    13 Trixie TBA TBA TBA TBA "testing" — no release date has been set
    12 Bookworm 2023-06-10 2026-06-10 2028-06-30 2033-06-30 Current "stable" release

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_version_history



    https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList
    Example sources.list

    If you need the contrib, non-free and non-free-firmware components, add contrib non-free non-free-firmware after main. For example, for Debian 12/Bookworm:

    deb https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    deb-src https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

    deb https://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    deb-src https://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

    deb https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    deb-src https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

    If you need the Backports, contrib, and non-free components, add bookworm-backports lines. For example, for Debian 12/Bookworm:

    deb https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    deb-src https://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

    # nano /etc/apt/sources.list

    I usually update my Bookworm by one of two methods, which do much the same thing:

    # apt update && apt update && apt full-upgrade --autoremove -y && apt autoremove && apt clean

    or

    # apt update
    # apt list --upgradable
    # apt full-upgrade --autoremove -y
    # systemctl reboot
    # apt autoremove
    # apt clean

    I hope some of this helps, sorry I am confused about what you wanted to ask.

    George.

    On Wednesday, 22-01-2025 at 07:17 Marco Möller wrote:
    Hello community!
    Could you please share with me, or point me to, a howto or receipt for applying all upgrades to future kernel 6.12.x versions to appear in
    Bookworm Backports when doing "apt update && apt upgrade", but to not
    leave the 6.12 (upstream LTS) branch and not upgrade to some higher
    kernel version like 6.13 when they would also become available in backports? Thanks a lot in advance! Talby.



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  • From Greg Wooledge@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 22 01:20:01 2025
    On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 01:00:49 +0100, Marco M�ller 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.

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  • From Andrew M.A. Cater@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 22 13:10:01 2025
    On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 01:00:49AM +0100, Marco M�ller 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. 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.
    For comfortably running the upgrades in an unattended way, I expect that I might need some pinning to allow all newer 6.12.x versions to become drawn
    in when available, but to not allow any higher kernel version than 6.12.x,
    so not allowing any 6.13 to become drawn in.


    If you install security fixes automatically - there is an option to do this
    - then the running kernel version will not change until you reboot the
    machine.

    Others have pointed out that you have to opt-in to upgrade backports packages.

    If you choose to use the bookworm-backports version of the kernel:
    6.12 is the LTS version. Unless there is some catastrophic security bug
    that affects it, Debian will carry on using the LTS version and will not
    move forwards to 6.13 or whatever. Updates to 6.12 will continue.

    The backport comes from the kernel in Debian testing but built using the
    tools in Debian stable. That kernel is 6.12. When testing becomes stable
    in a few months time as Debian 13 (Trixie), you will still have 6.12.
    A dist upgrade to Debian 13 will update all packages but the base kernel version is still likely to be 6.12 for the lifetime of Trixie (unless there
    are security changes which force a move of kernel version.)

    Hope this helps,

    Andrew Cater
    ([email protected])


    It seems to obvious to me, that I should not install from backports the package "linux-image-amd64", because this I expect to always point to the very newest kernel version, but not restricting to the 6.12 series of kernel versions. If there would be a "linux-image-6.12" package, then I would be done. Easy. But such "linux-image-6.12" meta-package is not available in bookworm-backports.
    So, I either install now manually a particular version like "/bookworm-backports/kernel/linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64-unsigned" and put
    it on hold and then manually check if some "linux-image-6.12.10+bpo-amd64-unsigned" (or higher 6.12.maintenanceVersion number) would arrive in the backports repository and then upgrade to it manually, repeating this manual procedure very frequently, or I find out how to configure some pinning or whatever for automation of some 6.12 series restricted upgrades.

    My question is what do I have to configure for letting apt upgrade the backported kernel 6.12 automatically to the newest linux-image-6.12.x
    version without upgrading beyond any 6.12 kernel, for instance not automatically upgrading to any backported kernel 6.13.x version.


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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to Greg Wooledge on Wed Jan 22 21:50:01 2025
    On 1/22/25 01:12, Greg Wooledge wrote:
    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.

    I would like to optimize my laptop for creative audio usage (tracking,
    running digital instruments, mixing, all what is commonly provided by
    current Digital Audio Workstations (DAW)). For this I read and
    understand that one important parameter of Linux optimization could be
    to use a real time kernel, and to use some other more specialized audio
    related components like JACK and nowadays also pipewire, and of course configure them all correctly. Guides about the proper configuration are published and I expect to be able to follow those guides successfully. Concerning the required real time kernel functionality, it is commonly commented, that current main stream kernels would actually be sufficient
    for accomplishing sufficient prioritization of the audio related
    communications and streams in the system, and I read that especially
    kernel 6.12 would have received all wished functionality for this and
    thus would be a very good choice to use.

    So, as I usually prefer a Debian "stable" and am therefore on Bookworm,
    and thought to keep things as simple as possible and to follow common recommendations from the Linux audio community, I am about to deviate
    from my strict "stable" path and give the kernel 6.12 from backports a
    try for my step into audio related laptop Linux optimization.

    I know that the backported kernel is not supported by the security team.

    However, seeing how well the kernel backports team is trying to keep
    backported kernels up-to-date, and upstream kernel developers continue supporting the 6.12 LTS kernel with updates, and kernel 6.12 updates
    from upstream being likely to continue to timely appear in the bookworm-backports repository (with the respective delay), I thought to
    now install currently newest linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64-unsigned, and
    to then configure my Debian to automatically receive all future 6.12
    backport versions the same as Trixie, when stable, would also care for it.
    I would have as up-to-date as possible kernel 6.12 in my Bookworm for my
    audio optimizations, and I would stay in a good position to later on
    upgrade to Trixie.

    If Debian insiders would foresee that KDE in Trixie stabilizes and would
    not undergo major changes no more, than I would consider to maybe right
    away install Trixie now, which to my knowledge is expected to become
    delivered with kernel 6.12, and also coming with up-to-date pipewire
    etc. . But my observations do not point toward this to be expectable and
    I better still postpone upgrading to Trixie.

    So, I better stay with Bookworm, install the packported 6.12 kernel, and
    hope to make life more comfortable by having kernel 6.12 updates become installed automatically instead of frequently doing this the manual way.
    Well, I thought that some easy receipt would pop up as an answer to my
    question on how to achieve such automatic upgrades. As this did not
    happen I conclude that the wished procedure is not so common and not
    readily worked out by now. I will accept this and go for the repetitive
    manual way then.

    I'll figure out where to best place a feature request to the backports
    kernel maintainers and ask them if they could provide for such case like
    mine a meta-package like "linux-image-6.12+bpo-amd64". Installing that I
    would expect such meta-package to then always draw in the most
    up-to-date kernel from the 6.12 series, when becoming available in
    backports. Similar meta-packages could of course also be helpful for
    others who might want to stay within a certain series of kernels, like
    6.13 etc.
    I am not aware about the amount of work, which the maintenance of such meta-package would add to the backports kernel team, though. Well, at
    least I will place the suggestion to provide one, and if they cannot do,
    then I of course understand and accept.

    Thanks a lot to all of you trying to help me! It is much appreciated!

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  • From Michael Stone@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 22 22:40:01 2025
    On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 09:48:24PM +0100, Marco M�ller wrote:
    Well, I thought that some easy receipt would pop up as an answer to my >question on how to achieve such automatic upgrades. As this did not
    happen I conclude that the wished procedure is not so common and not
    readily worked out by now. I will accept this and go for the
    repetitive manual way then.

    I think the problem here is a misunderstanding of how backports work:
    they're not "the latest kernel", they're "the latest kernel from debian testing". You're not going to see a kernel in backports that's not going
    to be in trixie until after the trixie release. (And even then it would
    be going into trixie-backports, not bookworm-backports.) Simply install linux-image-amd64 from bookworm-backports and you'll be fine.

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to Michael Stone on Wed Jan 22 23:10:01 2025
    On 1/22/25 22:32, Michael Stone wrote:
    I think the problem here is a misunderstanding of how backports work:
    they're not "the latest kernel", they're "the latest kernel from debian testing". You're not going to see a kernel in backports that's not going
    to be in trixie until after the trixie release. (And even then it would
    be going into trixie-backports, not bookworm-backports.) Simply install linux-image-amd64 from bookworm-backports and you'll be fine.


    You mean, linux-image-amd64 in bookworm-backports, which currently draws
    in linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64 (= 6.12.9-1~bpo12+1), can be expected
    to NOT draw in some 6.13 like 6.13~rc7+1~exp1 currently already having
    appeared in the experimental repository, because that 6.13 is not
    expected to make it into current testing (Trixie) no more?
    Then this linux-image-amd64 from backports would indeed be perfectly
    fine to install to my Bookworm! Problem solved!
    Correct?

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  • From Michael Stone@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 22 23:20:01 2025
    On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 11:07:57PM +0100, Marco M�ller wrote:
    You mean, linux-image-amd64 in bookworm-backports, which currently
    draws in linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64 (= 6.12.9-1~bpo12+1), can be
    expected to NOT draw in some 6.13 like 6.13~rc7+1~exp1 currently
    already having appeared in the experimental repository, because that
    6.13 is not expected to make it into current testing (Trixie) no more?

    Correct; backports only come from testing, not experimental. 6.13 won't
    enter testing unless it's expected to be in the next release.

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to didier gaumet on Wed Jan 22 23:50:01 2025
    On 1/22/25 23:23, didier gaumet wrote:
    Debian provides
    realtime kernels in its repositories. For an AMD64 PC and Debian 12
    Bookworm (without backports), the last LTS realtime kernel package is: linux-image-6.1.0-29-rt-amd64

    Do I understand correctly, that the rt-kernels like the one you
    mentioned, then also have the advantage over any backported kernel to
    receive full support from the Bookworm security team?

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to Michael Stone on Wed Jan 22 23:50:01 2025
    On 1/22/25 23:12, Michael Stone wrote:
    On Wed, Jan 22, 2025 at 11:07:57PM +0100, Marco Möller wrote:
    You mean, linux-image-amd64 in bookworm-backports, which currently
    draws in  linux-image-6.12.9+bpo-amd64 (= 6.12.9-1~bpo12+1), can be
    expected to NOT draw in some 6.13 like 6.13~rc7+1~exp1 currently
    already having appeared in the experimental repository, because that
    6.13 is not expected to make it into current testing (Trixie) no more?

    Correct; backports only come from testing, not experimental. 6.13 won't
    enter testing unless it's expected to be in the next release.


    Excellent, thanks a lot for your great help clarifying this to me!

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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Marco_M=C3=B6ller?=@21:1/5 to didier gaumet on Thu Jan 23 20:50:01 2025
    On 1/23/25 00:14, didier gaumet wrote:
    Le 22/01/2025 à 23:41, Marco Möller a écrit :
    On 1/22/25 23:23, didier gaumet wrote:
    Debian provides realtime kernels in its repositories. For an AMD64 PC
    and Debian 12 Bookworm (without backports), the last LTS realtime
    kernel package is:
    linux-image-6.1.0-29-rt-amd64

    Do I understand correctly, that the rt-kernels like the one you
    mentioned, then also have the advantage over any backported kernel to
    receive full support from the Bookworm security team?

    I would think so, yes:

    didier@hp-notebook14:~$ apt search realtime kernel
    [...]
    (...)

    Thanks a lot to you and everybody who helped. With this information, and
    the one from the other answer clarifying about which packages arrive in backports, my issue is solved!
    Best wishes, Talby

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