Upgrading image-only Mint install
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2025 4:52 pm
Could I confirm the correct procedure when updating / upgrading a mint install on an X5000 that is root-image only?
I have the kernel(s) and device tree on SD card. I copy new modules for the relevant kernel to "/lib/modules" in my root. Then use the menu in uboot to "fatload" the kernel and device tree into memory and boot with "bootm". All great. My understanding is that we then don't use any of the stuff in "/boot" of the root partition - vmlinuz, initrd, etc. Firstly, is my understanding correct?
Then, when I update, the apt update process always generates new files to go into there, which if we are ignoring those contents, is unnecessary, at best, if not wrong since the versions it installs don't match the kernel we're booting with. In fact, I think those files include the actual kernel.
So my main question is - is there any negative consequence to the fact that I'm booting with, for example 6.15 kernel, but the rest of the system is under the impression it's running with something from the 6.12 release? If, as I hope, that's all fine. Is there a way to skip the kernel updating stuff since it does slow things down? I guess, as I've just realised, the answer is to simply hold back the kernel like any other package?
Thanks for helping me grasp this slightly unusual (to me) way of working. I've only been working with Linux since the mid-nineties. I really should know this stuff by now as it's pretty fundamental.
I have the kernel(s) and device tree on SD card. I copy new modules for the relevant kernel to "/lib/modules" in my root. Then use the menu in uboot to "fatload" the kernel and device tree into memory and boot with "bootm". All great. My understanding is that we then don't use any of the stuff in "/boot" of the root partition - vmlinuz, initrd, etc. Firstly, is my understanding correct?
Then, when I update, the apt update process always generates new files to go into there, which if we are ignoring those contents, is unnecessary, at best, if not wrong since the versions it installs don't match the kernel we're booting with. In fact, I think those files include the actual kernel.
So my main question is - is there any negative consequence to the fact that I'm booting with, for example 6.15 kernel, but the rest of the system is under the impression it's running with something from the 6.12 release? If, as I hope, that's all fine. Is there a way to skip the kernel updating stuff since it does slow things down? I guess, as I've just realised, the answer is to simply hold back the kernel like any other package?
Thanks for helping me grasp this slightly unusual (to me) way of working. I've only been working with Linux since the mid-nineties. I really should know this stuff by now as it's pretty fundamental.
