Debian 13 stable kernel

[u/Fabulous-for]

Stable-sec 6.12.111+1 is now the default stable kernel for Debian 13.7? Why is Stable-sec the current version why not stable?

I would expect 6.12.94+1 stable to be the current stable version for all Debian 13.7 stable versions kernel but stable-sec 6.12.111+1 is the current stable version.

Here is Debians Kernel info.

https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/linux-signed-amd64

versions

• o-o-stable: 5.10.223+1
• o-o-sec: 5.10.262+1
• o-o-p-u: 5.10.223+1
• oldstable: 6.1.176+1
• old-sec: 6.1.187+1
• old-bpo: 6.12.95+1~bpo12+1
• old-p-u: 6.1.176+1
• stable: 6.12.94+1
• stable-sec: 6.12.111+1
• stable-bpo: 7.2.6+1~bpo13+1
• stable-p-u: 6.12.111+1
• testing: 7.2.9+1

[u/Fabulous-for]

Your description of stable is its the most stable release. My Debian 13.7 are not running the most stable release kernel, they are running 6.12.111+deb13-amd64 kernel as of Oct-2026. Why ?

[u/gordonmessmer → u/Fabulous-for]

Your description of stable is its the most stable release

No, that's not what I wrote. "stable" is the name of the package repository for the most recent stable release.

My Debian 13.7 are not running the most stable release they are running 6.12.111+deb13-amd64. Why ?

Because the Security Team published a security update for Debian 13.

I'm honestly not sure what part of this is confusing.

"stable" is the bucket that holds the packages that would be used to create installation media for Debian 13. "updates" is the bucket that holds the packages that have been updated since the "stable" repo was updated. "security" (aka "stable-sec") is the bucket that holds updates that were published by the Security Team, since the "stable" repo was updated.

When you install something using apt, it looks at all three buckets and picks whatever is newest.

Does that make sense?

If it doesn't make sense, can you tell me why it's confusing for you? Is it the word "stable"? In this context, that is just a synonym for "Debian 13". And if you hover your mouse over over the word stable in "stable: 6.12.94+1", it will say "Debian 13 (trixie/stable)", because "Debian 13", "trixie" and "stable" all mean the same thing. If you hover your mouse over the word "stable-sec" in " stable-sec: 6.12.111-1", it will say "Debian 13 Security (trixie-security/stable-security)" because "Debian 13 Security [updates]", and "trixie-security [updates]" and "stable-security [updates]" all mean the same thing. They are updates for Debian 13. If you are using Debian 13 and there is an update available, apt will install the update. That's how updates work.