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I have a virtual server that I tried to upgrade from Debian 7 to Debian 8. Unfortunately, I cannot use the new kernel: it still uses version 3.2.41-042stab108.2. Everything else seems to have been upgraded correctly.

Can I just use it like that or should I reinstall Debian 7?

Pascal
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  • I've asked the same question on the debian-users mailing list: https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2015/06/threads.html#00046 – MacFreek Jun 02 '15 at 15:16

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You indicate that the packages upgraded correctly, and you can use it right now. So if it works, you can use it like that. However, I suspect it is not officially supported.

I take it that your hosting provider uses OpenVZ (or it's commercial equivalent, Odin Virtuozzo), or some other Operating System-level virtualization (as opposed to paravirtualization, like Xen of KVM provides).

For me it, worked in practice, and since I don't see any problem, I'll use it with the older kernel. I followed the guide at http://justinfranks.com/linux-administration/upgrade-openvz-vps-from-debian-7-wheezy-64-bit-to-debian-8-jessie-64-bit (albeit my VPS is 32-bit instead of 64-bit).

That said, I suspect this is not officially supported by either Debian or Odin Virtuozzo/OpenVZ.

If you want official support, you should wait till your hosting provider offers Debian 8 support, but I suspect that you will have to reinstall your VPS in that case. They are probably waiting for the support of Debian 8 from OpenVZ or Virtuozzo. It seems that support is coming soon: See https://wiki.openvz.org/Download/template/precreated and http://kb.odin.com/en/125613.

MacFreek
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  • Unfortunately, I tried to follow a part of the guide you linked that broke my installation: the kernel I had does not seem to support _systemd_. – Pascal Jun 03 '15 at 18:37
  • Also, the guide is missing one suggestion from the Debian upgrade guide that I consider important: you should do the upgrade inside a _screen_ or _tmux_ session. – Pascal Jun 03 '15 at 18:42
  • Yes, systemd requires CLOCK_BOOTTIME and/or CONFIG_FHANDLE in the kernel. Or so I'm told. See https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=179343 and https://bugzilla.openvz.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2937 and https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2015/06/msg00048.html: OpenVZ fixed this in 042stab094.7. Edit: I'm a bit surprised though, I think this was already fixed in the 2.6.39 kernel, while Debian 7 already came with the 3.2 kernel. – MacFreek Jun 03 '15 at 20:25
  • Weird. I'm back on Debian 7 for now. I'll reinstall Debian when my provider supports it. – Pascal Jun 17 '15 at 18:32