...A quick question: is there a way to get apt to install new kernel-image packages rather than upgrade them, and keep the existing kernel-image package installed as well?... If you are asking whether you can install (for instance) kernel 2.6.8, kernel 2.6.9, and kernel 2.6.9 compiled for SMP all at once, the answer is yes. In fact this is the default behavior.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the detailed response. Are you saying that once my system is installed (on 2.6.8, as it happens), it will never get an upgrade to 2.6.9 (once it is released) unless i explicitly install it? Does the fact that i asked for kernel-image-2.6-686 have any bearing on the situation? I thought this always pointed to the latest released 2.6 kernel image.
... As a corollary, if you are currently using kernel 2.6.8 and want to upgrade to 2.6.9, you will have to explicitly ask APT to install kernel 2.6.9, because "apt-get upgrade" will not do the trick. Likewise you will have to explicitly remove any old kernels that you are no longer using.
I'm happy with removing the old ones myself. The only drama with the way you explain it is: how do i know when 2.6.9 is released except by checking for it manually every day/week/whatever?
> However there are often several Debian revisions of each kernel
version; so "apt-get upgrade" WILL upgrade you from Debian release 2.6.8-6 to 2.6.8-7. Needless to say, you CANNOT install two Debian releases of the same kernel version at the same time.
Presumably these Debian revisions are only released to fix security problems or other major bugs?
... Running "grep-available -FProvides -sPackage kernel-image" will give you a list of kernel packages known to APT on your architecture. (The grep-available command is in the grep-dctrl package.)
How is that different from what apt-cache search --names-only kernel-image shows me?
Thanks, Paul
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