How to enable kernel source package repositories

If you want to build or modify an Ubuntu kernel package from source, you will first need the kernel source code. This is provided via deb-src - a line in the sources.list or ubuntu.sources file that points to repositories containing source packages instead of pre-built binaries. deb-src will need to be enabled on your build machine.

Enable deb-src

Noble Numbat 24.04 (and newer)

Add “deb-src” to the Types: line in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources file.

Types: deb deb-src
URIs: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
Suites: noble noble-updates noble-backports
Components: main universe restricted multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg

Mantic Minotaur 23.10 (and older)

Check that you have the following entries in the /etc/apt/sources.list file. If not, add or uncomment these lines for your Ubuntu release.

deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main

Update package list

Once you have updated sources.list or ubuntu.sources, update the package list for the changes to take effect:

sudo apt update