Why is the kernel version not updated when I upgrade to a newer release?

Question

I think my Debian 8.0 (Jessie) installation is outdated, but the Package Updater always says All packages are up to date.

The result of:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -u upgrade

is 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not updated.

sudo apt-get -u dist-upgrade

Says the same.

Running uname --all displays:

Linux DebianWorkstation 3.16.0-4-amd64
#1 SMP Debian 3.16.7-ckt7-1 (2015-03-01) x86_64 GNU/Linux

But official sources say current version is 2015-04-25 and current Debian-Kernel should be 3.16.7-ctk9. What am I doing wrong?

EDIT - sources.list:

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux stable _Jessie_ - Official Snapshot amd64 DVD Binary-1 20141222-06:43]/ jessie contrib main

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ jessie/updates main contrib non-free

# jessie-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates main contrib non-free

# jessie-backports, previously on backports.debian.org
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free

# jessie non-free http
deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free

Still no updates available :/

Solution 1

"(2015-03-01)" in your uname --all output is the date of the kernel compilation, probably.

Debian will not automatically remove your existing kernels on upgrade. Every release has its own default binary kernels, which all correspond to a single kernel version, but of course are built for different architectures. It is generally a good ideas to use a default kernel for a given release.

When upgrading to a new release, you can manually install the new default kernel, but a convenient way to obtain this kernel is by installing the linux kernel meta-package. This package's name is of the form linux-image-<arch> where <arch> is whatever your architecture is. So, in the case of amd64, it is linux-image-amd64.

That meta-package is designed to always depend on the current default kernel, for whatever release/version the meta-package belongs to. Therefore it will pull in the current default kernel as a dependency.

However, your current kernel will remain installed, unless you remove it yourself, of course. You will need to reboot to switch to the newer kernel.

Also, you should also make sure that if you have unstable or experimental sources installed, you have a suitable entries in your /etc/apt/preferences file, otherwise your packages will be upgraded to the unstable/experimental versions. But that is not directly relevant to your question.

Solution 2

Just to extend @Faheem Mitha's answer, you might add to the /etc/apt/preferences something like this:

Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700

For me, this solved a similar issue. More info: http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

Comments

[Admin]

I think you have to check your sources.list, since Jessie is now the current stable. Try replacing 'testing' for 'stable'.

[Admin]

Oh yes, you are right...I completey forgot about that...will check the sources.list now...

[Admin]

Please let me know after you change the file. I'll write a proper and more explained answer for future searcher.

[Admin]

@WillianPaixao: I've edited my question. No changes :(

[Admin]

What does ls -l /boot say?

[daniel451]

So, if I get you right, the packages (supplied by sources.list) are up to date but my kernel version is not and it is not updated by apt-get? I have to manually update it?

[Alen Milakovic]

@ascenator See edits. I hope that makes it clearer.