Kernel upgrade with EXTLINUX on Debian

I would like to upgrade the Debian stock kernel to a compiled kernel packed as a .deb package.

Running the:

dpkg -i linux-image-x.x.Custom_amd64.deb

triggers the grub-update and, as I see from filesystem, the creation of the initrd file.

But now, how I tell EXTLINUX to boot from the new kernel?


There is nothing different introduced by Debian: install extlinux as usual with:

extlinux --install /boot/extlinux

make sure kernel image is present with matching initrd;

create a /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf file like:

default linux
timeout 1
label linux
linux ../vmlinuz-4.4.0
append initrd=../initrd.img-4.4.0 root=/dev/vda1 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200 ro quiet

label linux-stock
kernel ../vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-amd64
append initrd=../initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd64 root=/dev/vda1 console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200 ro quiet

note the path are right in a box in which /boot is not a partition on its own (it is part of / partition).

If the kernel image is too large, use the keyword linux (not kernel).