On Sat, 14 Feb 2026, Robert Heller wrote:
My RPi 5 (updated, etc.) from the original sd image from Raspberry Pi
Foundation image download has this in /etc/issue:
Debian GNU/Linux 12
with kernel 6.12.47+rpt-rpi-2712
/etc/apt/sources.list is:
My 4B is running:
Linux rpi.home.woodall.me.uk 6.1.0-42-arm64 #1 SMP Debian 6.1.159-1
(2025-12-30) aarch64 GNU/Linux
I'm running absolutely stock debian with nothing installed from
elsewhere. (does use non-free for raspi-firmware)
I used to have some really old boards running armel stock debian too.
My install script has this:
jessie-arm64|stretch-arm64|jessie-armel|stretch-armel)
#TODO checkout raspi3-firmware in non-free
echo "No firmware to boot rpi in jessie or stretch."
exit 1
;;
buster-arm64)
kernel=linux-image-arm64
grubkernel=
extrapackages="buster-backports-main-sources
buster-backports-non-free-sources raspi-firmware"
cat <<EOF >${BUILDCHROOT}/etc/apt/preferences.d/raspi-kernel
Package: linux-image-arm64
Pin: release o=Debian Backports,n=buster-backports,l=Debian Backports
Pin-Priority: 500
EOF
create_firmware_partition
;;
*-arm64)
kernel=linux-image-arm64
grubkernel=
extrapackages="${debian_release}-non-free-sources raspi-firmware"
create_firmware_partition
;;
*-armel)
kernel=linux-image-rpi
grubkernel=
extrapackages="${debian_release}-non-free-sources raspi-firmware"
create_firmware_partition
;;
*)
echo "Don't know how to boot ${ARCH}"
exit 1
;;
