Bug#864720: glibc: Upgrade to stretch warns about 2.6.32 kernel on i386/amd64 - inconsistent with upstream release notes
On 2017-06-13 14:21, Tim Small wrote:
> Source: glibc
> Version: 2.24-11
> Severity: normal
>
> The upstream release notes state:
>
> "The minimum Linux kernel version that this version of the GNU C Library
> can be used with is 3.2, except on i[4567]86 and x86_64, where Linux
> kernel version 2.6.32 or later suffices (on architectures that already
> required kernel versions more recent than 3.2, those requirements remain
> unchanged). Linux 3.2 or later kernel headers are required on all
> architectures."
>
> ... however, on upgrade to Debian Stretch (currently testing as of
> today), on a machine running OpenVZ 6 (2.6.32 kernel based, and
> supported until 2019), you are given the warning:
>
> "This version of the GNU libc requires kernel version 3.2 or later.
> Older versions might work but are not officially supported. Please
> consider upgrading your kernel."
This is indeed a bit misleading. They are indeed not officially
supported *by Debian*. That said I confirm that upstream supports kernel
2.6.32 on amd64/i386 at the time of the 2.24 release. This branch will
be supported upstream as long as someone care about it, and for the
2.6.32 support as long as someone care about it.
> This seems somewhat misleading, and implies that upstream do not support
> 2.6.32, even on amd64/i386.
>
> If you feel that a warning is still warranted, then perhaps something
> this would be more informative:
>
> "This version of the GNU libc can be used with kernel version 2.6.32 or
> later on i386 and amd64 (and version 3.2 on most other architectures).
> Please be aware that the Debian maintainers do not routinely test the
> GNU libc packages with kernel verisons other than those included with
> the Debian release which they are part of."
That's actually not correct either. It's not a question of regular
testing. We do not want to support kernel 2.6.32 for stretch, as it
means supporting it for at least up to 2020, and up to 2022 with
stretch-lts. This is after the end of the OpenVZ 6 support, and we can
really expect nobody will care about 2.6.32 at that time.
There is therefore no guarantee for example that we will be able to fix
a security issue affecting glibc only when using a 2.6.x kernel. Of
course if a patch is available we will fix it.
Aurelien
--
Aurelien Jarno GPG: 4096R/1DDD8C9B
aurelien@aurel32.net http://www.aurel32.net
Reply to: