Re: Debian installer with a newer kernel
Thank you for your good hints, Andrew. My approach is different.
I am in the lucky position that the question is of theoretical interest
to me this time only, in the past I had cases where I had to use
testing, because the kernel of the installer was too old to support
basic functions of my hardware.
On IRC I was recommended to build a custom image of the d-i. This was
actually provided as a service in the past at
https://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/ but has been discontinued since long.
I found a short description for changing the d-i kernel at
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Modify/CustomKernel. I guess it
should work, as long as the kernel is not too new for the rest of the
system.
I think it would be great to provide such a (semi-)official support for
backported kernels in the installer again. There is probably a
significant number of users which use testing, just because they can't
install stable on their systems.
Regards,
Christian
On 2022-04-14 12:00 UTC+0200, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2022 at 11:16:00AM +0200, Christian Britz wrote:
>> Hello dear Debianists,
>>
>> if a new system has at least basic hardware support by the kernel
>> provided by the Debian installer, you can solve many hardware problems
>> by installing a newer kernel from backports after the system setup.
>>
>> Is there a solution for the case where the installer kernel is too old
>> for core components like storage system support? Is there a way to use
>> the installer itself with a backports kernel?
>>
>> Regards,
>> Christian
>> --
>> http://www.cb-fraggle.de
>>
>
> This is a hard one: the kernel, initial ram disk and firmware are all fairly
> closely aligned in the install medium.
>
> If you can get through much of the installer with the d-i kernel:
>
> You may be able to drop down to a shell in the target environment - edit /etc/apt/sources.list to add the backports repository.
>
> At the end, just before you exit - drop to the target shell once again and apt
> install the new kernel and newer firmware.
>
> Rerun the grub-install step just to check - then exit.
>
> As you reboot, so the backports kernel should be first.
>
> If graphics card configuration/firmware is an issue: text mode expert install
> may well help - the text mode install tries to find compatible VESA modes.
>
> In some sense: this is the issue of very new hardware - for any distribution -
> and there's no good clear answer. Debian - on a two year release cycle now,
> more or less - is at least ahead of Red Hat where the distribution may have
> to be kept stable in kernel version and ABI but current for ten years
> afterwards.
>
> All the very best, as ever,
>
> Andy Cater
>
--
http://www.cb-fraggle.de
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