Blocking kernel updates with dpkg

Question

I'd like to block all distribution-shipped kernel updates due to a nasty thing that recently happened to me. (I'm on a Ubuntu 12.04 amd64 derivative.)

I'd like to block all updates to installed kernels of the minor version 3.2 to the linux-headers, linux-headers-generic, linux-image, and linux-image-extra packages. The problem I'm encountering is that these all have a version and if I block a specific version, nothing is gained because a new version will be installed (eg: if I block linux-image-3.2.0-35, linux-image-3.2.0-36 is not blocked and could still potentially be installed with a dist-upgrade from apt.)

Answer 1

What you need to use is a feature of apt-get called holding

You can either do this via Synaptic or Dpkg, Here is how I would hold my kernel using the dpkg method.

First check your kernel image name

dpkg -l | grep linux-image

output for me:

ii  linux-image-3.2.0-4-amd64              3.2.35-2                           amd64        Linux 3.2 for 64-bit PCs
ii  linux-image-amd64                      3.2+46                             amd64        Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

then tell dpkg to hold the metapackage (the generic version without any version numbers)

echo linux-image-amd64 hold | sudo dpkg --set-selections

You can then check this worked via dpkg -l linux-image-amd64

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                       Version            Architecture       Description
+++-==========================-==================-==================-==========================================================
hi  linux-image-amd64          3.2+46             amd64              Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

Notice the 'hi' at the bottom, h means held and i means currently installed. This package is installed but will not be upgraded.

You can reverse this via

echo linux-image-amd64 install | sudo dpkg --set-selections

and again can check via dpkg -l linux-image-amd64

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                       Version            Architecture       Description
+++-==========================-==================-==================-==========================================================
ii  linux-image-amd64          3.2+46             amd64              Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

Notice 'ii', the first i means this package is set to install and the second i means it is currently installed. This package is installed and will be upgraded.

For more information on these flags see man dpkg specifically the 'package selection states' sections.