News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on WTF Ubuntu?. Parent comment

Re:WTF Ubuntu? by so-rose on Monday November 02, 2026 @02:02PM (#50341854)
> That, or just pick the kernel package from unstable or testing. Apt is smart enough that mixing packages from different versions of Debian works just fine.

While I won't deny that this may often work, I disagree that it's a good idea, and that `apt` being smart is sufficient to guarantee that this works (or keeps working in the future).

Pinning specific packages from `testing` or `unstable` is explicitly discouraged, for very good reasons covered by this classic link: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian#Don.27t_make_a_Frank... .

Arguably, the backports kernel is the right choice to get a newer kernel on Debian Stable. Indeed, in the past, the backports kernel could take awhile to update, but no more - case in point, `trixie-backports` currently contains `7.2`, same as `unstable`.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:WTF Ubuntu? by Dylan16807 on Monday November 02, 2026 @03:22PM (#50343133)
I'd be wary of mixing software packages from different releases because their libraries might interact weirdly. But the kernel should be more isolated. Not isolated enough?

Either way backports does sound like the best option, sure.

[ Parent | on HN ]