Questions[mainline-kernel](ubuntu)

I am debugging a curious issue with the kernel not supporting my laptop completely. (This is my bug report)

I have installed the mainline builds from the mainline kernel ppa (http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/), and discovered that the last working kernel version is v3.2.1. Anything after it, i.e. v3.2.2, breaks. So I was going to use the git bisect tool to identity the specific commit between v3.2.1 and v3.2.2 which breaks on my laptop.

I followed the instructions but the git repo they link to doesn't have the tags for v3.2.x, so I found another one which sounds official and has the right tags: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary, but after building v3.2.1 I still had the issue.

So, what git repo do the mainline kernels come from?
Also, are any patches/changes applied to them after being retrieved from the repository which wouldn't be in my build?

I'm running the current stable Ubuntu version (Oneiric) but have issues with the shipped kernel. Newer kernel versions seem to have fixed it, but the kernel-ppa/ppa does not contain the most recent kernel which is why I want to install the kernel from the next stable version (Precise). Since I want to be able to unload out of tree kernel modules, the mainline kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline cannot be used.

I also have have Virtual Box installed which also need to work in the new kernel so the "kernel headers" have to be upgraded as well.

How am I supposed to install the kernel packages from the next stable version (Precise) without upgrading all other packages?