Hello,
Thanks for your response,
On 12/01/2026 05:33, Ionen Wolkens wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 11:30:26PM -0500, Ionen Wolkens wrote:
>> On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 08:19:09PM +0000, Gimmi wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> In order to install the kernel in my Gentoo machine I emerged
>>> gentoo-sources and not gentoo-kernel, since I wanted to try a 100%
libre
>>> Gentoo. I noticed that, while gentoo-kernel is stable at 6.12.63,
>>> gentoo-sources is stable at 6.12.58 and testing at 6.12.63.
>>>
>>> Why is that so? Is it just the package gentoo-sources lagging behind?
>>> Can I force emerge to use gentoo-sources 6.12.63 since it's available
>>> nonetheless, despite the testing status in this case?
>>
>> Different teams work on these, and they each take their own decisions
>> of when to stable or not. If there is a notable reason/issue, both will
>> typically be stabilized at once either way though.
>>
>> Why both though? You only need one, gentoo-kernel installs partial
>
> err I misread the "and not" part :)
>
> That aside, nothing makes gentoo-sources more "libre" than
> gentoo-kernel. You don't have to use the default config like
> noted below, and you can still apply patches through
> /etc/portage/patches if needed.
I followed [this Gentoo wiki
page](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Kernel/Deblobbing) that says to
install gentoo-sources so that one can use the FSFLA-provided deblobbing
scripts.
>
>> sources that can be used to build out-of-tree modules or run
>> make menu/old/nconfig and such. You can also use USE=savedconfig
>> to use your own .config if needed making it rather similar to using
>> gentoo-sources except portage will actually build the kernel.
>>
>> But yes, you can package.accept_keywords[1] any version you wish.
>>
>> e.g. a line with:
>>
>> =sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-6.12*
>>
>> Would accept the latest 6.12.x (not the wildcards are special, 6.12.*
>> would not be correct).
>>
>> And
>>
>> ~sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-6.12.63
>>
>> Would accept that version at any revision (~)
>>
>> In the event you package.accept_keywords gentoo-kernel, note you should
>> also accept a matching virtual/dist-kernel to avoid conflicts.
>>
>> [1] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki//etc/portage/package.accept_keywords
This is precious advice: I am still a neophyte and I didn't know about
this. If it's true that [gentoo-kernel just contains some more
automation](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gentoo/comments/1bexy96/difference_between_gentookernel_vs_gentoosources/),
I guess it should be safe to use version 6.12.63 of gentoo-source,
otherwise I would have to investigate: is it safe to install both to
play with gentoo-kernel so that I don't lose gentoo-sources or affect it
in some ways?
Thanks.
>> --
>> ionen
>
>
>
--
Gimmi
