Understanding the different kernels to compile

[thegrind]

I went to the github for the Rpi kernel and it takes you to version 6.6.y. I assume this is what is released with the Raspberry Pi OS.

I compiled and I am using 6.12.0-rc4-v8-16k+. I noticed that there is 6.6.y up to 6.14.y. I did a git pull on 6.12.0-rc4-v8-16k+ but it gave me the same kernel as it said something about a merge mismatch. Is there a newer version of 6.12 that I should compile or should I just go straight to 6.14 or stay where I am at (6.12.0-rc4-v8-16k+)?

[NeddySeagoon]

thegrind,

6.6.y is the current LTS support kernel.
6.12,y will be the next one. It will become the default on the Pi when its ready

6.12.0-rc4-v8-16k+tells me that's a Pi5 :)

kernel.org has released 6.13.1. It will take while for the Raspberry Pi ratch set to be added.
6.14 has just started its rc stage.

Personally, I would use 6.6.y or 6.12.y ... well i do :)

You should not be using a 6.12 release candidate now.
In my 6.12.y branch

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git pull --depth 1 --ff-onlyremote: Enumerating objects: 882, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (882/882), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (397/397), done.
remote: Total 444 (delta 425), reused 62 (delta 46), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (444/444), 75.41 KiB | 2.43 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (425/425), completed with 415 local objects.
From https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux
 + f42ab2179...1f193661c rpi-6.12.y -> origin/rpi-6.12.y  (forced update)
error: Could not read a725d68aa7d68d89e4b1688166d703c58387fe57
error: could not parse commit a725d68aa7d68d89e4b1688166d703c58387fe57

Gets me

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]VERSION = 6
PATCHLEVEL = 12
SUBLEVEL = 12

so that's 6.12.12 as af a few minutes ago.

See bug 930063 too there are performance improvements in the Pi5 SPI EEPROM but they are not yet in ::gentoo.

[gentoo_ram]

For my RPi 4 and RPi 5's I'm using the Raspberry Pi kernel source from GitHub.

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host /usr/src/linux # git remote -v
origin  https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git (push)
host /usr/src/linux # git status
On branch rpi-6.13.y
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/rpi-6.13.y'.
host /usr/src/linux # uname -a
Linux host 6.13.1-v8+ #24 SMP PREEMPT Mon Feb  3 11:36:21 PST 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

I'm using the same 4k page size kernel for both RPi4 and RPi5. I created a custom config based on the bcm2711_defconfig. I removed some features I knew I wasn't going to use and added a few others.

I had bad luck trying to use the 16k page size on the RPi5. I had issues with the ZRam feature not working and some strange errors trying to use filesystems I had originally created under a 4k page size machine. So I'm staying with 4k pages sizes on the RPi5.