[DRBD-user] Mainline plans, compilation issues

[Wouter de Geus]

Hi Christoph,


* Christoph B?hmwalder <christoph.boehmwalder at linbit.com> [2022-02-03 16:09:32 +0100]:

> Hi,
> 
> Am 02.02.22 um 16:10 schrieb Wouter de Geus:
> > Just built the latest longterm kernel which I'm trying this against - 5.15.19.
> > Do you have plans to upgrade mainline to v9, and when you do, will that be a new option or replace the old one?
> 
> We do, in fact we have been talking about upstreaming v9 for quite some
> time. Alas, as it turns out, it would be an insane amount of work because
> the git histories of the various repositories are... interesting at times.
> Kind of a long story, but you can take my word for it ??? it's not easy.
> 
> That being said, we are still planning on it, it's just pretty far back in
> our backlog.
> Since v9 "evolved" from v8 naturally (it is even backwards compatible), an
> upstream version of v9 would very likely just replace v8.

That's good to hear, although it sounds like this might be years off.
In fact, my gut feeling says this might never happen unless some entity starts
paying for this work.

> > Next: I can't get the sources compiled. Stood upside down to make `spatch` available since the patch service gave me a 400 Bad Request
> 
> Unfortunately 5.15.x is a very recent kernel, and we cannot guarantee
> compatibility with all mainline kernels. We try very hard to stay compatible
> with commonly used distribution kernels (which is already well over 100!).
> We also try ??? a little bit less hard ??? to be compatible with the latest
> mainline kernel, but since practically no-one would pay us for that it's
> just not worth prioritizing it.

I understand, although must point out that this is a longterm line of kernel,
not stable or mainline.  But I totally understand the prioritization from your
side.

> The latest kernel that we verifiably support is 5.14.0-1.7.1.el9 from the
> recent RHEL9 beta release. A mainline 5.14 *probably* also works, but again,
> no guarantees.

Yes, but now you're talking about RHEL - my systems in question are running
Slackware, which is why I'm grabbing the latest longterm support version now
and building them from scratch.

> > Any suggestions, or should I stick with 8.4 and make my life easier?
> 
> A shameless plug at this point: you can become a LINBIT customer, which
> would certainly make your life easier in this regard :)
> We offer pre-built packages for our customers, and while we don't officially
> support 5.15 yet, maybe we would be able to make something happen if there
> is explicit demand.

While I might consider this for paid customers, both the fact that I'm using Slackware
and the fact that these machines are more on a hobby base than paid won't let me do that.
I'll keep it in mind though.

Thanks for the answers!

Regards,

Wouter.