Way forward - Debian 12 + 7.0.12-zabbly+ & incus 7.1

1

I have a couple servers that back some years I switched to the zabbly kernel + zabbly incus from stable/main bookworm + backports (incus).

Thinking about updating them to Debian 13 but I’m a bit unsure how to approach given that I’ve 2 modifications stitching this together that hinge on bookworm.

Any guidance/corrections on how to proceed appreciated.

So far I’ve come up with:

  • backup incus & other important additions
  • disable the 2 zabbly repos (debian 12)
  • regress the kernel back to debian
  • upgrade the OS
  • enable the zabbly incus repo (debian 13)
  • restore incus 7.1 backup if needed
2

I don’t think you should encounter any issues with your upgrade to trixie; the zabbly packages are designed to integrate cleanly with a Debian system.

You’ve already planned for the most important thing: backups. :slight_smile: Also take a glance at 4. Upgrades from Debian 12 (bookworm) — release-notes documentation for anything else you might need to be aware of before performing the upgrade.

If you disable the zabbly repos, the upgrade process should be pretty smooth. (There shouldn’t be any need to attempt to downgrade the kernel you’re running.) After fully upgrading the base system to trixie, then re-enable the zabbly repos, edit them to point to trixie, do another apt update && apt upgrade and you should be good to go.

PS – For anyone not aware, bookworm security has already transitioned to the LTS team on June 10, and the final point release (12.15) will be on July 11, after which time any further updates for bookworm through the end of its life (June 2028) will be handled by the LTS team. It’s a great time to plan migration of any remaining systems to trixie! :smile:

3

@gibmat wasn’t sure theres a need to downgrade the kernel “regress the kernel back to debian”, I don’t think so, what do you think?

4

That’s correct; during the upgrade to trixie a Debian kernel might be installed, but re-enabling the zabbly repos afterwards will get you back to the zabbly releases.

In concept it’s not really any different than upgrading a bookworm system that’s got a newer kernel installed via backports.