Bug#1022061: debian-kernel-handbook: improve kernel build steps for newbies
Hi there! This was me, and yes, it was unclear. The short version is that I was sent two patches to test on a kernel, and I had NO idea how to do that.
I first tried installing linux-source (which doesn't have a debian subfolder from what I could tell), but then learned that actually what I needed to do was run `apt source linux`. I didn't know that all I needed to do was go to the root of that directory and use test-patches in debian/bin/test-patches.
When I finally managed to get the test kernel compiled, I couldn't install it, either via apt or dpkg. I was told that apt would take care of removing the dependencies causing the conflict, but it didn't. DKMS wasn't triggered, it was a mess.
I really appreciate the work that goes into making kernel builds painless, but there are some missing steps.
$ apt source linux
$ cd linux-*/
$ debian/bin/test-patches -j14 /path/to/patch
At this point, everything is fine. But try installing the resulting .deb(s) with either apt or dpkg, and you'll get a whole host of errors and not know what to do. Really unclear for end users trying to help by testing.
On Wed, 19 Oct 2022 17:41:55 +0200 Diederik de Haas <didi.debian@cknow.org> wrote:
> Package: debian-kernel-handbook > Version: 1.0.20 > Severity: normal >
> In https://bugs.debian.org/1022025#37 I saw another example of someone
> who hadn't built a kernel before, found the proper instructions but
> didn't succeed in building a (patched) kernel.
>
> All it took to succeed was some light guidance. And I know that when I
> was at that stage, I had similar problems.
>
> This bug is intended to collect the experiences/problems/etc that
> newbies run into, which in turn allows us/me to improve the
> documentation for everyone.
>
> I do intend to submit a MR to improve it, but first we need to collect
> the issues newbies run into, which will be done in this bug.
>
>
> -- System Information:
> Debian Release: bookworm/sid
> APT prefers unstable-debug
> APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (101, 'experimental')
> Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
>
> Kernel: Linux 6.0.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/16 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
> Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US
> Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
> Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
> LSM: AppArmor: enabled
>
> debian-kernel-handbook depends on no packages.
>
> Versions of packages debian-kernel-handbook recommends:
> ii firefox [www-browser] 106.0-1
> ii firefox-esr [www-browser] 102.4.0esr-1
> ii konqueror [www-browser] 4:21.12.3-1
> ii qutebrowser [www-browser] 2.5.2-1
> ii w3m [www-browser] 0.5.3+git20220429-1+b1
>
> debian-kernel-handbook suggests no packages.
>
> -- no debconf information
>
> >
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