Stock vs. Debian kernel sources

[John O'Hagan <johnohagan@iprimus.com.au>]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a brief summary of the differences between Debian kernel 
sources (such as those provided by the linux-source-2.6* packages), and the 
stock source from kernel.org.

The reason I ask is that I'm always keen to get the latest kernel, 
particularly for ACPI improvements (I run testing on a laptop). I compile my 
own from Debian sources, taking out features I don't use, so it's about a 
quarter the size of the standard Debian one. I have to build the ipw2100 and 
ieee80211 modules externally from source for networking anyway, and I use the 
realtime-lsm and latest alsa-modules for audio work. I use kernel-package and 
module-assistant to do it.

What do I need to be aware of if I use stock sources?

Thanks,

John