Learn How to Upgrade and Downgrade the Linux Kernel on Debian Properly

mrfdn – Upgrading and downgrading the Linux kernel should not be arbitrary. If the origin of the upgrade sometimes we experience things that are not desirable.

For example, the computer fails to boot, or there is software that cannot run perfectly because it is not compatible with the latest kernel version.

After I installed the Debian 10 Linux distro on my laptop, I was interested in upgrading the kernel because the default kernel is version 4.19.

My thought is that by getting the latest kernel, I will get better linux features.

Upgrading the kernel on Debian is different from upgrading the kernel on Ubuntu which I did some time ago.

The upgrade process is also quite easy to do.

How to upgrade the linux kernel on a Debian linux distro

1. Enter the terminal
2. Type sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

3. insert
   deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports main contrib non-free on the last line then save with CTRL+O >> Enter >> CTRL+X
   

4. Return to terminal type sudo apt-get update

5. There will be an option to upgrade. Please do the upgrade command to version 5.7 Backports (BPO) – Even though I want the 5.8 kernel.

6. Restart the computer. After that open a terminal and type uname -a to see the latest kernel version that has been installed.

How to downgrade linux kernel on Debian distro

Because of one thing, namely Virtualbox version 6 software is not compatible with Debian 10, so I decided to go back to using the standard version only.

Here I use the downgrade method without compiling that complicated.

The method is as follows::

Tutorial on how to downgrade the debian linux kernel

1. Open linux terminal
2. Type sudo apt-cache search linux-image

3. See the existing list, pay attention to the latest version with frills
   Linux Images and Headers.

4. Type
   sudo apt install linux-image-versionLinuxYouWantAvailableOnList
   example here I choose the last available kernel version that is
   sudo apt install linux-image-4.19.0-10-amd64-dbg linux-headers-4.19.0-10-amd64

5. Wait for the process to finish and make sure your internet connection is smooth.

6. Restart the computer to see the results.

7. Open a terminal and type uname -a to see the currently installed kernel version.

Reference :: Debian

Effect after downgrading in this way, the disk space size will increase, because the old kernel is not deleted.

I don’t know how to remove the old kernel version yet.

If you know how, please let me know in the comments below.

Conclusion

That’s how to upgrade and downgrade the linux kernel on the latest debian 10 distro.

My advice if you use Debian for a computer system that you want to do for a long time, it’s better not to do things like that.

Just use the default version of debian, because debian is famous for its stable system.

Upgrading the kernel here is too risky to do.

Hope it is useful. 🙂

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