On Mon, 09 Dec 2013 23:13:32 -0500 (EST), Stephen Powell wrote:
If you want to do this, you won't be able to use make-kpkg. You will need to do something like make a modified version of the Debian source package, linux, and build it with dpkg-buildpackage. But you want to use upstream sources. Hmm. No easy way to get from point A to point B. I haven't tried "make deb-pkg" in a while, but I suspect that it includes the SUBLEVEL in the package name as well. Give it a try and let me know what it does on current kernels, will you?
I am trying to backport the latest LTSI 3.10-series kernels onto wheezy, so I ended up downloading the latest 3.10 source package from wheezy-backports, linux_3.10.11-1~bpo70+1.debian.tar.xz. This package was based on linux 3.10.11, and I am building against 3.10.23.
I stripped out most of the patches that weren't necessary, removed the -rt featureset (which involved editing several configuration files), updated the abiname in debian/config/defines, ran dch --nmu to edit the changelog, and rebuilt using debuild -us -uc.
I changed the abiname to differentiate this version from the upstream wheezy backports. I changed it from '0.bpo.3' to something like '0.bpo.mypkg1'. Also, when editing the changelog (via 'dch --nmu'), I set the version to '3.10.23-0~mypkg1~bpo70+1'
This generates debian packages like linux-image-3.10-0.bpo.mypkg1-amd64_3.10.23-0~mypkg1~bpo70+1_amd64.deb. My plan what that with future stable releases I would increment the abiname, e.g. to '0.bpo.mypkg2', and the version, e.g. to '3.10.24-0~mypkg2~bpo70+1'. Unfortunately it seems the string 'linux-image-3.10-0.bpo.mypkg1' is used as the package name, which means that subsequent builds will have a different package name, and apt-get upgrade will not upgrade to the latest version automatically.
I think my only option if I want automatic upgrades is to keep the abiname constant. I'm assuming (and I'm not sure whether this assumption is correct) that all the third party modules (primarily nvidia drivers and vmware) will be build by dkms on reboot. I've been upgrading the kernel manually for a while and haven't had any problems, so I think this is a safe assumption. I'm not sure if this is the "right" thing to do however, keeping the abiname the same for new stable releases. Any thoughts?
I have a web page on the subject at http://users.wowway.com/~zlinuxman/Kernel.htm You might want to give it a read. Let me know if there's anything there that's out of date.
I did come across your site in my searches prior to posting this. It was very helpful, but as you've seen it didn't quite have what I was looking for. I'll read it in depth some more and let you know if I have any feedback.
I'd be happy to share more details about how I rebuilt the backports package for a newer kernel version. Let me know if you'd like me to send them to you.
Thanks, Mike