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Debian provides a very simple approach to upgrading (or downgrading)
kernels. Kernels are simply packaged as Debian
packages and installed in the usual way (see
Section 6.6.3).
Note that Debian treats kernel versions as different packages. Thus,
installing kernel-image-2.4.9-1-686-smp installs a different package
to kernel-image-2.4.6-1-686-smp. You can have multiple kernels
installed at any time, however only one kernel is ever chosen at boot
time (and you can have the choice, although a default will be chosen
each boot). The advantage of this is that you can be confident to
install a new (perhaps experimental) version of a kernel and reboot
into that version, but always be assured that you can go back to a
previous version if there are problems with the newer version.
Old versions hang around until you explicitly remove them.
It should also be noted that within specific package versions (e.g.,
kernel-image-2.4.9-1-686-smp) there are also normal Debian package
versions (e.g., 2.6.9-2). Potentially, you may be installing an update
of a currently running kernel, as in updating
kernel-image-2.4.9-1-686-smp
from version 2.6.9-1 to
2.6.9-2. Some complications can arise when installing an update of
the current version of a kernel. A message may
appear indicating that you are upgrading the current kernel and the
modules will be overwritten. As the message will indicate, you should
reboot your computer as soon as possible, since these modules are
probably currently being used by the kernel!
Subsections
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