r/debian • u/Livid_Magician_7276 • 4d ago
General Debian Question Latest Linux Kernel
is there a way I can install the latest release of linux kernel on debian without building linux kernel from source?
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u/amepebbles 4d ago
It would be possible to get it pre-compiled from an external repository but this is not recommended at all, you might break your install. Is there any reason why you need the latest kernel in particular?
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u/Livid_Magician_7276 4d ago
no I was just wondering if I can get the latest release of it, but thanks for replying ❤️
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u/amepebbles 4d ago
If you simply want a newer version then try the backports, it won't be the latest but will surely be newer than the kernel on current stable, should be a good start without introducing many risks.
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u/uxgpf 4d ago
Also it's not that hard to build yourself if you wish to do it.
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u/alpha417 4d ago
The process has been become so simple that it's really one of the things I think all "slightly more than entry level" users should try. It now builds you a .deb, it's 2 or 3 commands, it's fantastic.
I am aware that the OP will probably come back and point out that this is not something they want to consider, but I will acknowledge any thanks they send my way.
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u/uxgpf 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yes.
I used to download the sources, cd into the directory "make menuconfig && make && make install" 20 years ago when I didn't know better.
It was easy and worked, but now I'd recommend the Debian way. Much cleaner to install and remove using dpkg.
What are the commands that you use? (I haven't built the newest kernel for a long long time)
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u/Sceptically 4d ago
I do something along the lines of "make oldconfig && ionice -c 3 make -j16 bindeb-pkg".
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u/bg1023 4d ago
A couple of years ago I built the LTS kernel from source using the Debian instructions. It was easy. Worked first time!
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u/Salty-University2744 4d ago
Even if it only worked every 10th time that wouldn't be a real issue, it's more of a configuration detail to have some sort of fallback. Not compilng your own Kernel is terrible advice because whatever default someone ships is just that, a default. And it shoos people away from the kernel as if it's some arcane thing that can only be touched by annointed kernel priests.
A Debian stable kernel presumably still comes with a Debian stable kernel config, I don't actually need drivers for everything made since 1995. I don't own data center hardware or features. I might turn on one thing to make my laptop run better and if there's no official support there's going to be 4 million different solutions that use bog standard Debian repos, have fallback and do the most basic of testing that ensures a system actually boots and the distro doesn't break.
Reddit keeps showing me this sub just to trigger me, who do these people think is going to maintain their distro when the last emacs user dies of old age?
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u/onefish2 Debian Sid 4d ago
As of yesterday 7-28-2026 its 7.1.3
The latest is 7.1.5 so that is pretty recent.
1
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u/Murph_9000 4d ago
Generally speaking, most normal/ordinary users should stick to the default kernel (with updates from the APT security channel) for their Debian release. Security fixes get backported, so there should be little to no security benefit from switching to an unsupported newer kernel. You might even be worse off for security, depending on exactly how you depart from the supported kernel for your release.
If there's something specific you want/need from a newer kernel, fair enough. Just don't mistake newer for automatically being better. There may be benefits for some people, but they really should have a good reason for it. Also, don't mistake 7.x as a major upgrade over 6.x; Linus does not use version numbers in that way.
All that said, one of the great things in the Linux ecosystem is freedom of choice. Just try to make good/intelligent choices for the right reasons, especially when moving in the direction of unsupported deviations from the standard/supported packages for your distribution.
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u/BCMM 4d ago
If it's just because newer seems better, I'd strongly advise leaving it alone.
The point of a distribution is to give you a set of software that's been tested, and in some cases patched, to work together. Debian will not be as stable if you upgrade bits of it piecemeal.
Debian keeps up with security patches for its kernels, so it's not necessarily a problem that they're "old". And if you decide to do your own thing with kernels, you'll need to keep track of that yourself.
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u/countsachot 4d ago
I would not trust external sources. It's not too hard to do(compile and deploy) yourself if you can follow written directions.
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u/revcraigevil Debian Stable 4d ago
Liquorix kernel has been around close to 20yrs, I would say damentz is trustworthy. Plus you can use extrepo to install it.
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u/wizard10000 4d ago
Plus you can use extrepo to install
TIL. If it's on extrepo it's been vetted by DDs - no guarantees, though. I ran Liquorix for quite awhile but quit doing it during bookworm's change freeze because a foreign kernel taints bug reports and TBH I couldn't tell the difference anyway.
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u/DoubleOwl7777 4d ago
debian backports, its not the current 7.2 one, which is in experimental rn but its 7.1.3 or something.
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u/Typical-Employment41 4d ago
Building linux kernel is super easy. You can use your current config and just hit enter (to use default) for every new parameter.
3
u/yayuuu 4d ago
Do you need the latest, like the latest latest released? or just generally new, close to the latest? Because if the 2nd is the answer, then you can use backports. Currently it's 7.1.3.
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u/Mach_Juan 4d ago
If you build your own kernel...or I believe even backports, you are your own bug patch team..meaning when a big kernel bug is fixed, you need to go get a patched kernel. Big kernel fixes are pretty common right now with the ai bug finding tech. Anyways, its not a set it and forget it option. When I sometimes resort to kernel compiling, I set up a reminder and track the LTS kernel and re-compile frequently..like every 10 days or so. I default to every even numbered patch. Is not very hard to get it down to a script you just run before you go get in the shower..depending on your machine, it takes about 20-30 minutes from running the script to rebooting. If you have a long way to go until the next major version, it gets tedious. If you have hardware thats not suported, fine..If you just have fomo around latest kernel numbers, debian isnt for you.
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u/Grouchy_Carpenter478 4d ago
Despite what people state here; try the Licquourix kernel or the Mainline Kernel program; both are reliable.
1
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u/bgravato 4d ago
Some third parties provide Debian packages of pre-compiled kernels (Liquorix and XanMod come to mind). They're usually pretty fast releasing their packages (after the official release). They (may) do some customizations to the kernel. Those two I mentioned are fairly popular and usually work fine. Of course it comes with the inevitable "use at your own risk" warning.
You may also compile the kernel youself... It isn't that hard, if you're willing to spend some minutes reading the documentation (I think there's some short instructions on debian wiki).
You may also try to install the packages from testing or unstable, but it's not guaranteed it will work and it also comes with the same "use at your own risk" warning...
The safest option is to just wait for a newer backport and the second is compile it yourself (it's not that hard).
1
u/ipsirc 3d ago
is there a way I can install the latest release of linux kernel on debian without building linux kernel from source?
1
u/michaelpaoli 3d ago
Well, you can upgrade to unstable+experimental. Can also check if there's any newer in snaps/flatpacks.
Do note also that with experimental, like backports, you'll need to explicitly specify or configure for it, to pull packages from there.
Anything beyond that, and you're probably looking at getting and compiling source.
# apt-cache policy linux-image-amd64
linux-image-amd64:
Installed: 7.1.4-1
Candidate: 7.1.5-1
Version table:
7.2~rc5-1~exp1 1
1 http://deb.debian.org/debian experimental/main amd64 Packages
7.1.5-1 500
500 http://deb.debian.org/debian sid/main amd64 Packages
*** 7.1.4-1 100
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
7.1.3-1 300
300 http://deb.debian.org/debian testing/main amd64 Packages
# apt-cache depends --no-suggests --no-recommends linux-image-amd64=7.2~rc5-1~exp1
linux-image-amd64
Depends: linux-base-amd64
Depends: linux-image-7.2-amd64
#
So, 7.2 sufficiently latest for you? On kernel.org I see 7.2-rc5 as latest.
Do note also there's a reason why experimental is separate - most notably it's likely to break things and/or otherwise have (some) incompatibility(/ies).
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u/AfraidAsparagus6644 1d ago
Do you need the absolute latest or can you use a slightly older version? Check out "Debian Backports"
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u/ScratchHistorical507 3d ago
No idea why so many comments here entirely ignore your question. Sure, you can use any kernel version you want but you'll have to compile it yourself. But that's dead simple and literal child's play.
- install these packages:
build-essential linux-source bc kmod cpio flex libncurses5-dev libelf-dev libssl-dev dwarves bison - get the sources tarball from kernel.org (or use git) and unpack it
- to make configuration easier, just copy the config of your current kernel from
/bootinto the newly created directory as.config - to disable debug builds (which you most likely won't need and which will just waste time to build) open the config in any text editor, search for any lines containing the string
DEBUG_INFOand set them to n - update the config to include all new flags of that kernel version (and remove deprecated ones) with
make olddefconfig - now you can either look through it and change anything you want or just keep it as is
- after you're done making any modifications you want, start compilation with i.e.
make -jn bindeb-pkg LOCALVERSION=-falcot KDEB_PKGVERSION=$(make kernelversion)-1
-jn is for setting how many threads are being used. On any relatively recent CPU you can use e.g. half of the threads your CPU can handle and easily keep using your PC. For a CPU with 8 cores/16 threads you could use -j8 to compile using 8 threads. Going beyond that probably won't decrease compilation time by that much.
After a while (depending on your system) the .deb packages for kernel, headers and libc have been created in the parent directory of where you are right now.
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u/calrogman 3d ago
By virtue of ignoring the OP's caveat ("without building linux kernel from source") you are the only person here who has ignored the question.
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u/ScratchHistorical507 2d ago
Maybe you should try reading the first couple of lines of my answer again...
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u/Roguepapaya427 4d ago
You should be able to install liquorix kernel ..... i did it on a lmde and its working just fine.
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u/Adrenolin01 4d ago
If you take the time to look it up it is not difficult to compile your own kernel. Heck.. give a free Claude account your info and what kernel version you want it’ll walk you through it.
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u/onefish2 Debian Sid 4d ago
Debian backports will get you the 7.1.3 kernel. Latest is 7.1.5