[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Reverting to 3-component kernel version string



We currently include only 2 components of the upstream kernel version in
our kernel version string (i.e. what 'uname -r' prints).  Every change
to this string currently requires rebuild and reinstallation of OOT
modules, and we don't want or need to do that for every stable update.

However, there is still plenty of software out there that assumes there
are at least 3 dotted components at the beginning of the kernel version
string (e.g. <https://bugs.debian.org/742226>).  It is sometimes
possible to work around this, as I pointed out on that bug report, but
it would not be at all obvious to the average user that that failure was
caused by a broken version check.

Linus continues to include a third component of '0' in his releases and
I don't think any other major distribution overrides this (excluding
downstreams that use our linux package).  Which means this is only a
Debian problem, not a Linux problem, and there is little pressure for
ISVs to fix their version checks.

Therefore I propose to restore the third component as '0' for
compatibility, the same as we did in wheezy.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Humans are not rational beings; they are rationalising beings.

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part


Reply to: