How to install raspberry pi kernel headers of which version matches with $(uname -r) version

Question

Title

I want to install raspberry pi kernel headers of which version matches with $(uname -r) version because I'll develop kernel modules on Raspberry Pi.

Description

I tried to execute sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel-headers, but the header version doesn't match with the one of $(uname -r). In addition to do this, I tried to do bellow trials but the header version doesn't match with the one of $(uname -r).

Is there are ways how to install raspberry pi kernel headers of which version matches with $(uname -r) version ?

What I try to do :

1. Simply Tring to execute sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel-headers

Reference : https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/linux_kernel.html#kernel-headers

uname -r  # Check the current ver
> 5.15.76-v7+

ls /usr/src/
> sense-hat

sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel-headers

ls -1 /usr/src/
> linux-headers-5.15.84+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7l+   
> sense-hat

There is installed linux-headers-5.15.84-v7+ but is doesn't match with the $(uname -r) version.

2. Do rpi-update to update the kernel to the lastest, then execute sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel-headers

sudo rpi-update
sudo reboot
uname -r
> 5.15.89-v7+  # update to the lastest ver !
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y
sudo apt autoclean
sudo reboot

sudo apt install raspberrypi-kernel-headers 
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree... Done
> Reading state information... Done
> raspberrypi-kernel-headers is already the newest version (1:1.20230106-1).
> 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
ls -1 /usr/src/
> linux-headers-5.15.84+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7l+   
> sense-hat

The kernel is updated to 5.15.89-v7+ but kernel header does not update, still 5.15.84-v7+.

3. --reinstall raspberrypi-kernel then install raspberrypi-kernel-headers

Reference : https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/63879/installed-kernel-headers-and-uname-r-differ

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --reinstall raspberrypi-bootloader raspberrypi-kernel
sudo reboot
uname -r
> 5.15.89-v7+
sudo apt-get install raspberrypi-kernel-headers
ls -1 /usr/src/
> linux-headers-5.15.84+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7+
> linux-headers-5.15.84-v7l+   
> sense-hat

The kernel is not updated, and kernel headers is too.

Appendix

1. /lib/modules

After above procedure, there are the kernel modules of which version is the same as $(uname -r) version.

ls /lib/modules
5.15.84+  5.15.84-v7+  5.15.84-v7l+  5.15.84-v8+  5.15.89+  5.15.89-v7+  5.15.89-v7l+  5.15.89-v8+

2. apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

As like ubuntu or debian, I tried to apt install linux-headers-$(uname -r), but It was an invalid command.

apt search linux-headers-$(uname -r)
> Sorting... Done
> Full Text Search... Done

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
> Reading package lists... Done
> Building dependency tree... Done
> Reading state information... Done
> E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-5.15.84-v7
> E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-5.15.84-v7'
> E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-5.15.84-v7'

Answer 1

There's no need to use rpi-update now that the kernel is packaged in the standard repository. To install the proper kernel and headers, do the following:

apt install raspberrypi-kernel raspberrypi-kernel-headers

rpi-update should not really be needed by most users and I haven't used it for years. A fairly up-to-date kernel is already available via the raspberrypi-kernel package.