How to update only the kernel when doing some kernel mods

I’ve been playing with my VisionFive 2 and realized that after a while, I have enough modifications to the software and applications and such that I really do not want to have to reimage the device and start all over.

So if I make a change to the kernel and rebuild everything, is it possible for me to just update the kernel on my VisionFive 2 device?

And actually this leads to another question, how to update only particular components of my image that come from the Starfive repository. I assume I can check anything that I install with apt install using apt update and apt upgrade however what about the components such as BusyBox that are part of the image source in the Starfive repository?

The following Unix & Linux StackExchange post I did a couple of days ago outlines a procedure I developed however I’m not sure if this is really an appropriate or good procedure.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/769671/procedure-for-updating-linux-kernel-with-a-test-kernel-i-built

That is way we need a Linux Distribution … :face_exhaling: