I'm just going to comment on this bit here because I'm on the Ubuntu side of things with a number of hats INCLUDING Ubuntu Backporters.
* I think (not sure anymore) Ubuntu-backports uses a meta-package like linux-image-amd64-bookworm-backports. No, this is incorrect. You may be thinking specifically of cases where later kernels are made available to the LTS releases as individual updates during the point releases of LTS for Hardware Enablement - in those cases we have `linux-image-generic-hwe` metapackage with updated kernels available, but those are not considered "backports" in the same way Debian Backports would be. In fact, the Ubuntu Backporters team **explicitly forbids** backporting of the kernel or associated packages as you can see per our "special case" and "forbidden packages" patterns here [1]. The HWE kernels in Ubuntu are specially handled, and not 'backports' in the sense that it'd have the Backporters groups touching it. And that's ONLY for the LTS in Ubuntu. So no, your statement that Ubuntu does this as backports is not correct. It's done by the Kernel team, and only for LTSes to enable later hardware enablement, it is NOT just a "separate chain" of packages or Linux dependencies. Sure, you can install numerous kernels yourself. You can even install separate kernel packages or compile your own. It doesn't mean these're actually "backports" nor something that should be considered for regular backporting, etc. because even in Ubuntu the 'backported' kernels are heavily tested and 'special case' for the LTS release (which is different than Debian). [1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBackports#Forbidden_packages Thomas Ubuntu Developer Ubuntu Backporter From: Johan Kröckel <johan.kroec...@gmail.com> Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2024 07:34 To: debian-backports@lists.debian.org Subject: linux-image backports metapackage Hello everybody, I think I asked this before but I'd like to have both the current stable and backports kernels installed. When I upgrade linux-image-amd64 to the backports version the stable kernel is not upgraded anymore. When I just install the current backports package directly, like linux-image-6.7.12+bpo-amd64, it stays at that version. I think (not sure anymore) Ubuntu-backports uses a meta-package like linux-image-amd64-bookworm-backports. Wouldn't this be a solution or why would that be a bad/unfeasible idea? Thank you Johan
