How to install several kernels on Debian

[Boris Shtrasman]

Good day , 

On Tuesday 15 December 2015 13:55:19 Oleg Goldshmidt wrote:
> Boris Shtrasman  writes:
> 
> > Let me explain , the 3.2 version and 4.2 are sitting in different
> > branches
> 
> Both are available from wheezy (with apt-get install -t wheezy to be sure)

I  did a minor test on a amd64 arch again , setting up only wheezy and stable/updates

apt-get update 

Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates InRelease                                              
Ign http://http.debian.net wheezy InRelease                                  
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main amd64 Packages 
Hit http://http.debian.net wheezy Release.gpg                  
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main i386 Packages 
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main Translation-en    
Hit http://http.debian.net wheezy Release          
Hit http://http.debian.net wheezy/main amd64 Packages 
Hit http://http.debian.net wheezy/main i386 Packages 
Hit http://http.debian.net wheezy/main Translation-en 
Reading package lists... Done                     

checking about 4.2: 

apt-cache policy linux-image-4.2 
linux-image-4.2.0-1-amd64: 
 Installed: 4.2.6-3 
 Candidate: 4.2.6-3 
 Version table: 
*** 4.2.6-3 0 
       100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

compare the result to 3.2 :

apt-cache policy linux-image-3.2 
linux-image-3.2.0-4-amd64: 
 Installed: (none) 
 Candidate: 3.2.68-1+deb7u3 
 Version table: 
    3.2.68-1+deb7u3 0 
       500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ wheezy/main amd64 Packages 
linux-image-3.2.0-4-rt-amd64-dbg: 
 Installed: (none) 
 Candidate: 3.2.68-1+deb7u3 
 Version table: 
    3.2.68-1+deb7u3 0 
       500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ wheezy/main amd64 Packages 
linux-image-3.2.0-4-rt-amd64: 
 Installed: (none) 
 Candidate: 3.2.68-1+deb7u3 
 Version table: 
    3.2.68-1+deb7u3 0 
       500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ wheezy/main amd64 Packages 
linux-image-3.2.0-4-amd64-dbg: 
 Installed: (none) 
 Candidate: 3.2.68-1+deb7u3 
 Version table: 
    3.2.68-1+deb7u3 0 
       500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ wheezy/main amd64 Packages 
linux-image-3.2.0-2-amd64: 
 Installed: (none) 
 Candidate: (none) 
 Version table: 
    3.2.20-1 0 
       100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

As I mentioned before please share your sources.list , or the output of apt-get update. 
If you can add the results for apt-cache policy linux-image-4.2 that might clear my confusion 

I think it might benefit you to use a local server (example mirror.isoc.org.il ) which would be close to your setup and not the redirector because when I tried to use it with a vpn in Israel (with an Israeli vpn) I was allegedly sent to http://mirror.datacenter.by/debian/
(according to http://http.debian.net/demo.html) 


Requesting a package from a distribution  without setting preferences or exact version has a good chance that the dependencies will be taken from packages with the highest priority available (most recent version).
you could use the preferences file I sent you as a good start, alternatively you can work with pinning version; but in any case sharing your sources along with providing the output for apt-cache policy linux-image-4.2 would clear some of the question I raised. 

> but 4.2 does not install as described. Answering your other
> questions, it is not a weird or intriguing setup. It is an official
> mirror.
 
I'm sorry but having 4.2 in wheezy *without* backports or some manual setting is intriguing results for me. 

> They also cheerfully sit together in
> http://http.debian.net/debian/pool/main/l/linux.
> 

That is not how mirrors work , when several brands/dists reside on the same server they will have files by section (in this case main) but packages will point to the correct location.
what you need to look into the release and Packages files (to see what is included and how it works) 

For wheezy / master : 

$wget http://ftp.cz.debian.org/debian/dists/wheezy/main/binary-i386/Packages.bz2
$bunzip2 Packages.bz2
$grep Package Packages | grep linux-image 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-486 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-686-pae 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-686-pae-dbg 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-amd64 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-rt-686-pae 
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-4-rt-686-pae-dbg 
Package: linux-image-2.6-486 
Package: linux-image-2.6-686 
Package: linux-image-2.6-686-bigmem 
Package: linux-image-2.6-686-pae 
Package: linux-image-2.6-amd64 
Package: linux-image-486 
Package: linux-image-686 
Package: linux-image-686-bigmem 
Package: linux-image-686-pae 
Package: linux-image-amd64 
Package: linux-image-rt-686-pae

> > In most cases it is no hussle as long as you relaying on
> > stable/testing unstable and having an updated system , for example you
> > have stable + stable/updates
> 
> That's what it is (no testing though). But it does not work. :-(
> 

wheezy is old-stable not stable.