SDB:InstallNewerKernel

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Situation

You have a computer with a problem caused by as yet unsupported new hardware, and have been directed to install a newer kernel than the newest one provided by your installed system.


Several situations can cause this need. This article will describe installing a "backport" kernel on openSUSE Leap 15.4/15.5

A backport kernel is the current upstream stable kernel release purposely built specifically for use in Leap.

Procedure

First, a repository containing the backport kernel needs to be configured. Logged in as root, or using sudo, the following shell command will cause the creation of the required .repo file in /etc/zypp/repos.d/:

zypper ar -f http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable:/Backport/standard/ KernelStableBP

Like most optional repositories, backport contains a .repo file that can be retrieved and, as an alternative to the above zypper -ar command, as root or using sudo, saved to /etc/zypp/repos.d/.

You can verify your new repo exists with the command
zypper lr -d

using YaST2

Start YaST2, select "Software Management" and click the tab "Repositories". From the list produced on the left, select the name used to create the new repo. This will produce a list of kernel and related packages. Select the one matching the name of your currently installed kernel, which by default in Leap is named "kernel-default".

Warning: This document needs to be finished by someone familiar with YaST2 Software. It's not obvious to me why the list of kernels omits kernel-default-6.1.8...or what to do next. It looks like clicking the link labeled "Switch system packages" is next, but when I do so the refresh of the right window marks more packages than just kernel-default-6.1.8 when I select it. These may be dependencies, but I don't want to guess, as doing so caused a lot of red versions in the "Installed (Available)" column. (elfutils, libasm1, libdw1, libelf1) Help doesn't produce an explanation of the red. Based on the numbers involved, YaST2 thinks the reds are suggesting the changes amount to backleveling.

using Zypper at a shell prompt

zypper refresh
zypper search -sx kernel-default
zypper install kernel-default-<listed-version-to-install>
e.g. zypper install kernel-default-6.1.8

See also

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