Is it ok to upgrade kernel in PureOS?

I am having difficulty with the kernel that comes with PureOS (5.10) about IOMMU groups. So I want to upgrade the kernel to 5.15+ somehow, but I don’t know how to do it, or even if it’s going to be ok to upgrade it via other channels.

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bumpity bump.

Which release of PureOS are you using? 5.10 makes it sound like you are still on Amber – but lsb_release -a on the terminal should tell you whether you are on Amber and Byzantium. On Byzantium, 5.15 is available (it should even be default by now).

If you want to stick with Amber (why?), you can find out which kernel releases are available by running apt search linux-image librem5 which should find all installable kernels for the Librem 5.

I am using librem mini v2 and I downloaded Byzantium image from here and then ran dist-upgrade.

https://pureos.net/download/

Is there a way to upgrade its kernel?

It is okay. You won’t brick it. what do apt-get full upgrade and dist-upgrade get you?

Not sure! Not even sure if upgrade might work as unofficial one, yet take a look at previously linked approach (still up to date one):

So if you implement all things as officially described from Debian side, step by step, you might end up (as of today) with:
sudo apt install -t bullseye-backports linux-image-amd64 (not quite 5.15. one, at the moment)

Please note that related package within here proposed command I found here. Anyway, please be aware that you might end up with broken system as well, not sure as didn’t implement this on my side (writing here something that might help you to find better answer to your question, for sure not providing any kind of fixed, work around answer that will satisfy all parties involved with 100%, as said, up to your request).

Why would we use backports instead of a normal upgrade to kernel?

Because PureOS Amber is/was related to Debian Buster (as LTS from July, 2022 to June, 2024) and while PureOS Byzantium is currently related to stable Debian Bullseye, precisely to 11.2 version/distribution of it.

In order to get there where you want regularly you’ll need to wait for the next PureOS edition/release (for sure) or in order to get more recent Linux Kernel as of today and out-of-the-box you’d need to consider of moving your /home on top of Debian Bookworm repos (or some other testing distribution). Would you please correct you title to amd64 related Kernel:
uname -r
5.10.0-10-amd64

lsb_release -a | grep Codename:

Codename: bullseye

P.S. Also we are not extending your thread topic to byzantium-security/ packages either, no need.

I am using Byzantium.
I have just added normal debian repos and successfully installed 5.15.2 kernel (also headers but I’m not sure if headers are needed)
Most things seem to be working on this kernel. Haven’t come across any problems yet.
So can you explain why it would be better to use the “bullseye-backports” to update the kernel?

Note: Can’t change the name of the title.

You mean Debian Bookworm repos? How did you do that? And if you didn’t executed: sudo apt upgrade, probably is much better you don’t do that.

Answer is here:

@vkslputll, please do not reboot/poweroff your Librem laptop if you are not sure you’ll reach your data again, as accustomed, as usually “everything works”.


Please reread this advice as well: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian
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Hey thanks for your concern but it works after rebbot too.

I added these repos:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib

I haven’t come across any problems in the last couple of hours I used the computer.

On the website you shared it says:
Debian Backports provides new packages with new features on supported Debian stable releases.

However I still don’t understand why you think I should choose a “backport” for the kernel.

Sorry, I just don’t “see” any linux-image-5.15.0-2-amd64 within bullseye repo.

Ah, it could be this repo then, I wasn’t sure:

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

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Apparently you found this guide before myself :disappointed_relieved:.

  1. make sure you’re sources.list file in /etc/apt is edited to reflect debian 11 as your default repo and not Debian 10.

  2. Go to terminal after this and enter sudo apt-get update

  3. then sudo apt-get dist-upgrade