Re: Reducing the number of kernels
On Thu, Jul 29, 2004 at 10:21:48PM +0200, Andreas Barth wrote:
> Hi,
>
> the release of sarge is getting nearer. From tomorrow on, a freeze of
> standard+base-packages starts. So, I think it's now the right time to
> reduce the number of kernels. Also, the security team has requested to
> keep the number of different kernels versions as small as possible. And,
> I think it would be nice to really come down to one single kernel
> version.
>
> This mail contains just suggestions. I'm not the maintainer, and I'm not
> the one to finally decide. But - I think it's now time to do it. Also, I
> can see that the number of different kernel versions have been reduced
> significantly. Thank you all for doing it (and the common repository
> seems to have positive effects ;).
>
> The main issue is: The uploads of kernels should also be frozen.
> If really some changes are needed, then this should be done now, so that
> freezing can happen ASAP.
>
>
> Currently, we have the following kernel versions:
> alpha arm hppa i386 ia64 m68k mips powerpc s390 sparc
> 2.4.19 P
> 2.4.21 R(*)
> 2.4.24 R
> 2.4.25 R R R R R R R
> 2.4.26 K K K K K K K * K K
>
> R means remove, K means keep (or at least: newest version currently).
> P means: patch only, should probably be dropped.
>
> * there is still a udeb for s390/2.4.21 - so, can we really drop it.
> * If I understood it right, Sven suggested to drop 2.4 for powerpc.
There currently is only a 2.4.25 kernel for powerpc, 2.4.26 i am still
struggling with, since there seem to be broken generation of the chrp and prep
zImage files.
apus has 2.4.25, but it is not working anymore, and a return to 2.4.22 may be
a good idea if we want to still support apus.
And finally, no, i don't really want to remove 2.4, but only to make 2.6 the
default kernel. This already happens by default with debian-installer, since
debian-installer now uses and installs the 2.6 kernel for all targets except
the miboot oldworld floppies.
> alpha i386 ia64 powerpc
> 2.6.3 P
> 2.6.4 R
> 2.6.5 R
> 2.6.6 * R R R
> 2.6.7 K K K
>
> * 2.6.6 is the most current version for alpha. It might be nice to
> update alpha to 2.6.7 and drop this version.
>
>
> For 2.2, the following kernels are still in testing (but all with the
> same version 2.2.25): m68k, sparc.
>
>
> So, this proposal boils down to:
> 1. If there is need for another kernel source version for 2.2, 2.4
> and/or 2.6, do it _now_. In this case, please take care that all archs
> manage to catch up. Freeze all main source lines where this is not
> needed.
> 2. Upload alpha/2.6.7.
> 3. Remove the older kernels.
>
> Comments are appreciated. If wanted, I can file removal requests for the
> older kernels.
Well filling bug for removal is all fine, but they need to be acted upon too.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
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