How to Install Kernel 7.x on Debian 13

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Kernel is the central component of an operating system that manages hardware resources and enables communication between software and hardware. It handles memory management, process scheduling, device drivers, and system calls.

Prerequisites

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• Access to the Debian 13 command line terminal.
• Root privileges or Sudo privileges.
• At least 10 GB of free disk space.
• Required build tools and dependencies.

Step 1 - Check the Current Kernel Version

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Use the following command to display the currently running kernel version:

uname -r

Output:

6.12.57+deb13-amd64

Step 2 — Enable the trixie-backports repository

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The ~bpo13+1 suffix on backports packages confirms they originate from the Debian 13 backports repository. To enable it, create a new sources list file

echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/trixie-backports.list

Now update the package cache to pull in the backports index:

apt update

Output:

Get:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security InRelease [43.4 kB]
Get:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie InRelease [140 kB]
Get:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-updates InRelease [47.3 kB]
Get:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-backports InRelease [54.0 kB]
Get:5 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security/main Sources [174 kB]
Get:6 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security/main amd64 Packages [212 kB]
Get:7 http://security.debian.org/debian-security trixie-security/main Translation-en [129 kB]

You can confirm kernel 7.x packages are available by running:

apt-cache search linux-image | grep -i "7\.0"

Output:

linux-image-7.0.7+deb13-amd64 - Linux 7.0.7 for 64-bit PCs
linux-image-7.0.7+deb13-cloud-amd64 - Linux 7.0.7 for x86-64 cloud
linux-image-7.0.7+deb13-rt-amd64 - Linux 7.0.7 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT
linux-image-7.0.9+deb13-amd64 - Linux 7.0.9 for 64-bit PCs
linux-image-7.0.9+deb13-cloud-amd64 - Linux 7.0.9 for x86-64 cloud
linux-image-7.0.9+deb13-rt-amd64 - Linux 7.0.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT

Step 3 — Install kernel 7.x

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Install the backports kernel and headers using the -t trixie-backports flag to ensure packages are explicitly pulled from the backports repository:

apt install -t trixie-backports linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64

Output:

  Upgrading:
    libc-bin  libc-l10n  libc6  libelf1t64  locales

  Installing:
    linux-headers-amd64  linux-image-amd64

  Installing dependencies:
    binutils-common            libctf0        libubsan1
    binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu  libdw1t64      linux-base-7.0.10+deb13-amd64
    cpp-14-for-host            libgcc-14-dev  linux-base-amd64
    cpp-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libgomp1       linux-binary-7.0.10+deb13-amd64
    gcc-14-for-host            libhwasan0     linux-headers-7.0.10+deb13-amd64
    gcc-14-x86-64-linux-gnu    libisl23       linux-headers-7.0.10+deb13-common
    libasan8                   libitm1        linux-image-7.0.10+deb13-amd64
    libbinutils                liblsan0       linux-kbuild-7.0.10+deb13
    libc-dev-bin               libmpc3        linux-libc-dev
    libc6-dev                  libmpfr6       linux-modules-7.0.10+deb13-amd64
    libcc1-0                   libquadmath0   manpages-dev
    libcrypt-dev               libsframe1     pahole
    libctf-nobfd0              libtsan2       rpcsvc-proto

  Suggested packages:
    binutils-doc    gcc-14-doc     debian-kernel-handbook
    gcc-14-locales  libc-devtools  firmware-linux-free
    cpp-14-doc      glibc-doc      linux-doc-7.0

  Summary:
    Upgrading: 5, Installing: 41, Removing: 0, Not Upgrading: 64
    Download size: 254 MB
    Space needed: 525 MB / 48.6 GB available

Step 4 — Verify the installed packages came from backports

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Confirm the packages were pulled from backports by checking for the ~bpo13+1 suffix in the installed version:

dpkg-query -W linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64

Output:

linux-headers-amd64     7.0.10-1~bpo13+1
linux-image-amd64       7.0.10-1~bpo13+1

The ~bpo13+1 suffix confirms the kernel came from trixie-backports.

Step 5 — Reboot and verify

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Reboot the system to boot into the new kernel:

reboot

Step 6 - Verify the Running Kernel Version

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After the reboot, verify the active kernel version:

uname -r

Output:

7.0.10+deb13-amd64

You can also verify using:

uname -sr

Output:

Linux 7.0.10+deb13-amd64

The system is now running Kernel 7.x on Debian 13.