Warning: Debian stable kernel upgrade breaks most ARM SBC (opens in new tab)

Also, I think something like LAVA is more suited to kernel/bootloader testing than debci:

https://wiki.debian.org/LAVA

Why do they call it "stable" then?

We do at https://fosdem.org on our custom made video gear. That's 56 boxes in a crucial spot in our operation. We went out of our way to make sure we had plain vanilla mainline Debian stable packaged linux running on the Allwinner A20 based boards that power them, instead of some binary arm kernel with all kinds of issues.

I'm sure it's small, but at least a few of us are here. Also worth noting is that (most) Raspberry Pi (an ARM SBC) users are indirectly Debian users too. (and I'm a Pi user as well)

I have 10 Raspberry Pi's with Debian Stretch and Jessie - the Raspbian variant. I updated a "sacrificial" Pi and rebooted without error.. this time!

  Package: linux-libc-dev
  Version: 4.9.82-1+deb9u3+rpi1
  Priority: optional
  Section: devel
  Source: linux-4.9
  Maintainer: Debian Kernel Team <debian-kernel@lists.debian.org>
  Installed-Size: 4,466 kB
  Provides: linux-kernel-headers
  Homepage: https://www.kernel.org/
  Download-Size: 1,300 kB
  APT-Manual-Installed: no
  APT-Sources: http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian stretch/main
  armhf Packages Description: Linux support headers for userspace
  development This package provides userspaces headers from the Linux
  kernel.  These headers are used by the installed headers for GNU libc
  and other system libraries.

edit: formatting

I use 2 Olimex A20 Micro with Debian stable as personal servers (Web, Email, Backup). One of them had already installed the toxic update via unattended-upgrades. Fortunately I did not configure automatic reboot. So I had the chance to read about the issue here on Hacker News and reinstall the old version:

$ wget https://snapshot.debian.org/archive/debian/20181028T150508Z/...

$ dpkg -i linux-image-4.9.0-8-armmp-lpae_4.9.130-2_armhf.deb

and set the version on hold:

$ apt-mark hold linux-image-4.9.0-8-armmp-lpae

I do, but I'm OK with being a statistical fluke.

I imagine there could be a number of IOT, media or other devices unknowingly running Debian on ARM though; more than we realise.

Not Debian directly but one of their derivative: Armbian, they have great support for Allwinner SoC and it's easy to build your own image.

I'm glad I can. It's a known, trusted distribution I've been using since 2001 on my main PC. It runs my personal web server since 2013 on a Cuibeboard and it works well. I've got a stable system which I'm familiar with, plus automatic updates, no binary blobs, vanilla kernel and all.

I can't think of a better solution if the SBC is supported. What would you recommend as an alternative?

I do, at least for some personal projects. They're more than capable enough for many tasks, and cheap enough to be willing to just grab another if you have a quick task.

I don't run Debian, but I have multiple ARM SBCs that I work with as well.

I have a Rock64 NAS box running an RK3328 chip.