Re: Need clarifications about how to deal with the installed problematic kernel, linux-image-6.1.0-14-amd64 (6.1.64-1)
Hi Michael
> Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2023 at 9:29 PM
> From: "Michael Kjörling" <2695bd53d63c@ewoof.net>
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: Need clarifications about how to deal with the installed problematic kernel, linux-image-6.1.0-14-amd64 (6.1.64-1)
>
>
> This combination is expected under the circumstances, assuming that
> you mean /etc/debian_version. Booting into a different kernel does not
> change the files installed by the base-files package, which is where
> /etc/debian_version comes from; if you want to, you can verify this
> with dpkg -S /etc/debian_version.
>
Someone on a social media platform stated that there are only two "canonical" [sic] ways to verify the version of Debian installed on a system. They are:
uname -a
/proc/version
Do you agree with the above statement?
>
>
> > Question #2b
> >
> > Suppose I need to re-install linux-image-6.1.0-13-amd64 but some users told me that it is no longer in the repos.
> >
> > I can just download it manually by using the following link:
> >
> > https://packages.debian.org/bookworm/amd64/linux-image-6.1.0-13-amd64/download
> >
> > And then in a terminal, I type the commands:
> >
> > sudo dpkg -i linux-image-6.1.0-13-amd64
> >
> > sudo update-grub
> >
> > sudo shutdown -r now
> >
> > Is the above the correct way to install kernels that are not in the official repos?
>
> Not quite, because dpkg -i wants a file path, not a package name
> (that's for apt/apt-get). Also dpkg won't automatically pull in any
> dependencies that may have been uninstalled after the upgrade, or
> necessarily handle any DKMS modules that would need to be recompiled
> for the older kernel version, so you'd need to take care with those.
Could you help me to understand what you meant when you wrote: "Not quite, because dpkg -i wants a file path, not a package name" please?
Please allow me to give you an example of how I use dpkg on a regular basis.
The version of OpenVPN software in the official Debian repos is lamentably outdated. It has version 2.6.3-1+deb12u2 whereas the official community version by OpenVPN Inc. has version 2.6.8 (By the way, Fedora users are lucky because David S., one of the developers of OpenVPN, is personally maintaining OpenVPN in Fedora's official repos; meaning, the version in Fedora's repos is in sync with the official OpenVPN's version.)
Whenever OpenVPN's developers release an update for OpenVPN, they will also publish the corresponding version for Debian users.
Below are the URLs for the latest version (2.6.8):
https://build.openvpn.net/debian/openvpn/release/2.6/pool/bookworm/main/o/openvpn/openvpn_2.6.8-bookworm0_amd64.deb
https://build.openvpn.net/debian/openvpn/release/2.6/pool/bookworm/main/o/openvpn/openvpn-dbgsym_2.6.8-bookworm0_amd64.deb
https://build.openvpn.net/debian/openvpn/release/2.6/pool/bookworm/main/o/openvpn-dco-dkms/openvpn-dco-dkms_0.2.20231117-bookworm0_all.deb
This is how I install the latest version of OpenVPN on my Debian Bookworm:
1. sudo apt remove openvpn
**Sometimes I sudo apt purge openvpn instead of sudo apt remove openvpn in order to remove the configuration files**
2. sudo dpkg -i openvpn_2.6.8-bookworm0_amd64.deb
3. sudo shutdown -r now
Based on your statement, what file path should I supply to dpkg?
> Someone on the Fediverse posted an apt preferences recipe to block the
> broken kernel package from installation. I haven't tested it, but it
> looks reasonable:
>
> > create a file:
> >
> > /etc/apt/preferences.d/buggy-kernel
> >
> > with the contents:
> > # avoid kernel with ext4 bug
> > # 1057843
> > Package: linux-image-*
> > Pin: version 6.1.64-1
> > Pin-Priority: -1
>
> Copied from https://octodon.social/@alienghic/111552556796482609
>
Thanks, Michael for your tip.
But I find the following command to be much simpler to use:
sudo apt-mark hold linux-image-amd64
Said command achieves the same goal, yes?
Best wishes.
Stella
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