diff --git a/poky/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf b/poky/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
index dc0e8e7..3d22878 100644
--- a/poky/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
+++ b/poky/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky.conf
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 
 DISTRO_FEATURES ?= "${DISTRO_FEATURES_DEFAULT} ${POKY_DEFAULT_DISTRO_FEATURES}"
 
-PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto ?= "5.19%"
-PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto-rt ?= "5.19%"
+PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto ?= "6.1%"
+PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto-rt ?= "6.1%"
 
 SDK_NAME = "${DISTRO}-${TCLIBC}-${SDKMACHINE}-${IMAGE_BASENAME}-${TUNE_PKGARCH}-${MACHINE}"
 SDKPATHINSTALL = "/opt/${DISTRO}/${SDK_VERSION}"
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@
 BB_SIGNATURE_HANDLER ?= "OEEquivHash"
 BB_HASHSERVE ??= "auto"
 
-INIT_MANAGER = "sysvinit"
+POKY_INIT_MANAGER = "sysvinit"
+INIT_MANAGER ?= "${POKY_INIT_MANAGER}"
 
 # We need debug symbols so that SPDX license manifests for the kernel work
 KERNEL_EXTRA_FEATURES:append = " features/debug/debug-kernel.scc"