Kernel sources and patches

Every PS5 kernel is stock Linux plus one patch file and a config, and every image boots whatever kernel sits on its boot partition. This page is the map: how a kernel is put together, what the version strings and branches mean, and how to apply patches yourself. The build and install commands are on Kernel setup.

How a PS5 kernel is put together

Part	What it is	Where
Stock Linux	A tag from the stable tree. The first lines of the patch set's .config name it.	git.kernel.org
linux.patch	One git diff with every PS5 change: the drivers/ps5/ drivers (HDMI chip, fan, LED, buzzer, CEC, USB-C DP, power controller), the amdgpu, xHCI, Bluetooth and Ethernet changes.	The patch set repository
.config	The kernel configuration. It also sets CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE to the VCN firmware in ../ps5-linux-patches/firmware, which is why the folder name matters.	The patch set repository
Out-of-tree parts	The IW620 Wi-Fi driver: a separate repository upstream (ps5-linux-mwifiex), vendored in oot/mwifiex in rmuxnet's repository.
Image patches	Patches applied on top of a patch set by an image builder, for example PS5 Bazzite Deck's patches/.	The image repository

The result is a bzImage, an initrd.img built on the target distro, and a /lib/modules/<version> folder. The loader reads bzImage, initrd.img, cmdline.txt and vram.txt from the FAT32 boot partition and nothing else, so the kernel and the distro are independent: a kernel built for one image runs on another as long as its modules are installed there.

Version strings

You see	It means
A plain kernel version (X.Y.Z)	The stock Linux version the patch set targets. Upstream and rmuxnet's repository track different stable series.
kernel-X.Y.Z-<commit>	An upstream release tag: kernel X.Y.Z built from ps5-linux-patches at that commit. Every push to main makes one, with .deb, .pkg.tar.zst and .rpm packages named linux-ps5. The commit is the part that tells releases apart.
X.Y.Z-PinkSoup, tag X.Y.Z-PinkSoup-<commit>	rmuxnet's release: -PinkSoup is the local version his full-LTO builds carry (-Clang-ThinLTO and -Clang-NoLTO for the other LTO settings in build.cfg), followed by the commit.
X.Y.0-rc…	A build of the same fork from a release candidate, from before the stable tag existed.
PS5 Bazzite Deck vX.Y.Z	An image version. Its kernel is the stable kernel plus rmuxnet's patch set at a pinned commit plus the image's own patches; each release's VERSIONS.md has the exact pins. A "quick kernel" release replaces only the kernel and modules on an installed image.

What you are running:

uname -r
cat /proc/version

uname -r gives the plain version for an upstream package (its config sets no local version), the -PinkSoup suffix for rmuxnet's release, and the stock version on PS5 Bazzite Deck (the image version is in /etc/ps5-bazzite-deck-version). cat /proc/version adds the compiler, which tells a Clang build from a GCC one.

Repositories and branches

Repository	Branch	What it carries
ps5-linux/ps5-linux-patches	main	The official patch set. Changes land as pull requests (hotplug, HDR, CEC, USB-C DP, the Pro GPU, the fan curve, native FRL, the GPU governor). A package release per commit.
rmuxnet/ps5-linux-patches-1	default branch	The port to the newer stable series with build.sh, the clock drivers, his Bluetooth patches and the in-tree Wi-Fi driver; the releases are built from it.
	main	A mirror of upstream main.
	meower	The earlier port that PS5 Bazzite Deck builds on, at a pinned commit; the image carries the later changes it needs as its own patches.
	other branches	Work in progress. Not for users.
Slip-Up/ps5-linux-patches		The native FRL, 4:2:0, ALLM and recovery work, merged upstream.
VivaLaVent/ps5-bazzite-deck	tags vX.Y.Z	The image. patches/ holds its kernel patches, each with a description at the top; build.sh section 3 is the order; CHANGELOG.md says what changed when and what is untested.
ps5-linux/ps5-linux-image		The image builders. They take the patch set as a --patches-ref (branch, tag or commit) and build the kernel packages the images ship.

Which feature is in which of them is on Kernel setup. rmuxnet's README sets the rules for his repository: changes go in as pull requests only, work taken from it is credited, and renamed forks of the kernel are not allowed.

Apply a patch set by hand

The full commands are under Build by hand. The shape is always the same, for either repository:

1. Clone the patch set and the stock kernel side by side, the patch set in a folder named ps5-linux-patches.
2. Check out the tag named in the first lines of .config.
3. git apply ../ps5-linux-patches/linux.patch in the kernel tree, after a dry run with git apply --check.
4. cp ../ps5-linux-patches/.config .config and make olddefconfig (LLVM=1 for rmuxnet's config, which is made with Clang).
5. Build, install the modules with INSTALL_MOD_STRIP=1, make the initrd, copy bzImage and initrd.img to the boot partition.

A patch set only applies cleanly to the kernel version it was made for. git apply --check tells you before anything is touched; a failure on a different point release usually means a small context change, and patch -p1 --dry-run shows which hunks.

Add single patches on top

There are two layers, and a patch is written for one of them:

• A patch to the patch set changes linux.patch and .config themselves. Upstream pull requests are this kind: download one with curl -L -o pr.patch https://github.com/ps5-linux/ps5-linux-patches/pull/<number>.patch and apply it in the ps5-linux-patches checkout (git apply pr.patch or git am pr.patch) before step 3 above. PS5 Bazzite Deck does this with the suspend-to-idle pull request.
• A patch to the kernel tree changes kernel source files. PS5 Bazzite Deck's patches/ are this kind: apply them in the kernel tree after step 3, in the order build.sh lists them, because later ones are written against the state the earlier ones leave. Each file's header says what it does and which release introduced it.

For every patch:

git apply --check <patch>
git apply <patch>

Some patches need a config option as well; the patch description or build.sh says which. Set it before olddefconfig:

scripts/config --enable CONFIG_MT7921E
scripts/config --disable CONFIG_PS5_GPUFREQ
make LLVM=1 olddefconfig

Then build as usual. Give the kernel a local version (scripts/config --set-str CONFIG_LOCALVERSION "-mine") so its modules don't overwrite the ones of the kernel you are running.

Patches move between the layers

When PS5 Bazzite Deck's or Slip's kernel-tree patches are merged upstream, they become part of linux.patch and applying them again fails with "patch does not apply". What is where is a snapshot; CHANGELOG.md in the image repository and the pull requests upstream are the running record.

Put a kernel on an existing image

Nothing in the distro has to change for a new kernel except its modules and initrd:

1. Install the modules to /lib/modules/<version> (a package, rmuxnet's install.sh, or make modules_install).
2. Build an initrd for that version on the image (update-initramfs, mkinitcpio or dracut). On a PS5 Pro the GPU firmware has to be inside it, see PS5 Pro.
3. Back up bzImage and initrd.img on the boot partition and copy the new ones over them. cmdline.txt and vram.txt stay.
4. Cold boot and start with the loader. To test a kernel without a cold boot, use kexec.

If the new kernel doesn't boot, put the backed-up files back from any PC (the partition is FAT32). What a kernel needs beyond that is the same for every image: the IW620 Wi-Fi driver built for it (bundled in the linux-ps5 package and in rmuxnet's release, otherwise reinstall it), and on an image with Steam Gaming Mode the BPF LSM and BTF options.