Bug#987266: preinst check for kernel release > 255 may no longer be needed
Hi Aurelien,
On Tue, Apr 20, 2021 at 06:36:33PM +0200, Andras Korn wrote:
> Package: libc6
> Version: 2.31-11
> Severity: normal
>
> Hi,
>
> due to
> https://salsa.debian.org/glibc-team/glibc/-/commit/6ddfa57577af0d96df9ddd7be401f5ce9a9bcc0f
> (a commit from 2004) the preinst script for glibc checks whether the
> "z" in the "x.y.z" of the kernel version is less than 255. If yes,
> the package refuses to install.
>
> I hit this problem on a box with a custom 4.9.266 kernel.
>
> Based on this lkml thread:
> https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/7pR0YCctzN9phpuEChlL7_SS6auHOM80bZBcGBTZPuMkc6XjKw7HUXf9vZUPi-IaV2gTtsRVXgywQbja8xpzjGRDGWJsVYSGQN5sNuX1yaQ=@protonmail.com/T/,
> the check is no longer needed because the kernel caps the version
> code it reports to 255, even if uname prints a higher number.
>
> Of course, you could conceivably still hit the problem with earlier
> kernels, so I suppose the logic of the check should be modified, not
> removed entirely, to be technically correct.
>
> If forced at gunpoint to make a guess, I would guess, though, that
> removing the check would have very little actual impact; it also
> doesn't protect the user from installing a kernel with an
> unsupported version number after having installed glibc.
Prompted by
https://lore.kernel.org/stable/YVAhOlTsb0NK0BVi@kroah.com/T/#t and
given this was addressed with
https://salsa.debian.org/glibc-team/glibc/-/commit/b3c76cf1cd0c8b6e4844c6362a45143c136a2900
is this something we should do consider as well for the older releases
where it is not acutally needed for people compiling their own custom
kernels?
Regards,
Salvatore
Reply to: