Information for the Kernelnewbies Outreachy Docs

Information for the Kernelnewbies Outreachy Docs

[brunodout.dev]

Hello,

As     Roopa suggested me on IRC yesterda, I am sharing some
info    that could be updated in the KernelNewbies Outreachy
tutorial.  Some instructions for Arch(/Arch based) users and
possibly    other minimalist VM setups (I run a minimal arch
install  on a small filesystem for each kernel tree, and all
space necessary to build the kernel I use virtiofs).

I will try to enumerate them:

REQUIREMENTS

1. cpio
A    non-minimalist install will likely have cpio on it, but
case    it doesn't you'll likely get a tricky error when the
build   system runs kernel/gen_kheaders.sh. (sorry, I didn't
save the output, but the error code is 127)
Perhaps the script also needs a better error message

Cpio     requirement is also missing in the kernel compiling
docs[1].

2. ncurses5
This one isn't missing but it's outdated. It says arch users
must       build it, but actually the arch available package
'ncurses'     (version 6) worked for me so far (at least for
targets like menuconfig, which I believe to be the reason of
this requirement, right?)

3. Possibly python3
I    was following the tutorial for the staging kernel tree,
and      ran `make` to build the kernel (I usually run `make
bzImage`      followed by `make modules`, like usual in 2005
LOL),  and  got  an  error  that  python3  wasn't  found.  I
installed  python but then switched back to my old procedure
and      it worked. I'm not sure if the default target isn't
doing    something else, since re docs[1] also don't mention
python3 as a requirement.

ARCH PACKAGE NAMES

Arch  packages  are  not  as  much  granular       as  other
distributions, so some packages will be differently named. I
have listed them just in case anyone feels stuck:

1. gitk => already contained in: git
2. git-email => already contained in: git
3. esmtp => libesmtp

REFERENCES
[1] https://docs.kernel.org/process/changes.html


I        hope it becomes helpful for other applicants and to
improve the docs.

Sincerely,
Bruno | Pronouns: they/them/theirs
IRC: CodeAgain

Re: Information for the Kernelnewbies Outreachy Docs

[Alison Schofield]

On Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 01:24:17PM -0300, brunodout.dev@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> As     Roopa suggested me on IRC yesterda, I am sharing some
> info    that could be updated in the KernelNewbies Outreachy
> tutorial.  Some instructions for Arch(/Arch based) users and
> possibly    other minimalist VM setups (I run a minimal arch
> install  on a small filesystem for each kernel tree, and all
> space necessary to build the kernel I use virtiofs).
> 
> I will try to enumerate them:

These sound very useful. Can you update the wiki yourself:

From the https://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch :

'To edit the wiki, create an account, and then send an email to
the outreachy@lists.linux.dev with the subject "[KERNEL NEWBIES ACCESS]
username", where username is your kernel newbies username.'

Someone on list, with edit privileges can grant you edit privilege
and then you can do it yourself. 

Thanks!
Alison

> 
> REQUIREMENTS
> 
> 1. cpio
> A    non-minimalist install will likely have cpio on it, but
> case    it doesn't you'll likely get a tricky error when the
> build   system runs kernel/gen_kheaders.sh. (sorry, I didn't
> save the output, but the error code is 127)
> Perhaps the script also needs a better error message
> 
> Cpio     requirement is also missing in the kernel compiling
> docs[1].
> 
> 2. ncurses5
> This one isn't missing but it's outdated. It says arch users
> must       build it, but actually the arch available package
> 'ncurses'     (version 6) worked for me so far (at least for
> targets like menuconfig, which I believe to be the reason of
> this requirement, right?)
> 
> 3. Possibly python3
> I    was following the tutorial for the staging kernel tree,
> and      ran `make` to build the kernel (I usually run `make
> bzImage`      followed by `make modules`, like usual in 2005
> LOL),  and  got  an  error  that  python3  wasn't  found.  I
> installed  python but then switched back to my old procedure
> and      it worked. I'm not sure if the default target isn't
> doing    something else, since re docs[1] also don't mention
> python3 as a requirement.
> 
> ARCH PACKAGE NAMES
> 
> Arch  packages  are  not  as  much  granular       as  other
> distributions, so some packages will be differently named. I
> have listed them just in case anyone feels stuck:
> 
> 1. gitk => already contained in: git
> 2. git-email => already contained in: git
> 3. esmtp => libesmtp
> 
> REFERENCES
> [1] https://docs.kernel.org/process/changes.html
> 
> 
> I        hope it becomes helpful for other applicants and to
> improve the docs.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Bruno | Pronouns: they/them/theirs
> IRC: CodeAgain
> 

Re: Information for the Kernelnewbies Outreachy Docs

[Bruno Moreira-Guedes]

On Tue, 2022-03-29 at 10:54 -0700, Alison Schofield wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 01:24:17PM -0300,
> brunodout.dev@gmail.com wrote:
NOTE: I posted my first e-mail with my gmail account, but the above
address and the one I'm using right now are the same person.
> > 
> > I am sharing some info that could be updated in the KernelNewbies
> > Outreachy tutorial.  Some instructions for Arch(/Arch based) users
> > and possibly other minimalist VM setups
> 
> These sound very useful. Can you update the wiki yourself:
> 
> From the https://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch :
> 
> 'To edit the wiki, create an account, and then send an email to
> the outreachy@lists.linux.dev with the subject "[KERNEL NEWBIES
> ACCESS]
> username", where username is your kernel newbies username.'

Just a follow up, I already requested a couple of days ago, and I have
updated the OutreachyfirstpatchSetup page[1] now including the
enumerated items from the previous e-mail and some new details.

> 
> Thanks!
> Alison
> 
> > 
> > REQUIREMENTS
> > 
> > 3. Possibly python3
> > I was following the tutorial for the staging kernel tree,
> > and ran `make` to build the kernel (I usually run `make
> > bzImage` followed by `make modules`, like usual in 2005
> > LOL), and got an error that python3 wasn't found. I installed 
> > python but then switched back to my old procedure and it worked.
> > I'm not sure if the default target isn't doing something else,
> > since re docs[1] also don't mention python3 as a requirement.

I added this requirement and detailed the reason it might be needed:
several self-test and kunit tools in the /tools tree require python.
It likely explains why I just got the missing python error when I
built with `make` (default target) and not when running `make bzImage
&& make modules`.

I also added perl, which wasn't missing in my list but in minimalist
setups it might. Also added information regarding perl modules that
might be necessary for other tools, that could be installed easily
with `cpan`.

> > 
> > ARCH PACKAGE NAMES
> > 
> > some packages will be differently named. I have listed them just
> > in case anyone feels stuck:
> > 
> > 1. gitk => already contained in: git
> > 2. git-email => already contained in: git

I detailed the above differences in packaging scheme in the wiki, but
I didn't update the information below:

> > 3. esmtp => libesmtp

Turns out this information was wrong, libesmtp and esmtp are not the
same package with different names as I thought, it's actually not
provided in ArchLinux official packages (to my knowledge). I think
users might find a build package in the AUR repo, though. However, the
`mail` utility, from the 's-nail' package, can also be used to achieve
the same goals. I'll go back there and write about that at some point.

> > 
> > REFERENCES
> > [1] https://docs.kernel.org/process/changes.html
> > 
Regarding kernel docs missing some points, mentioned in the original
post, could I update kernel docs on that too? I've found the online
docs to be based on the docs present in Documentation. Also, would it
count towards my 10 patches requirements? (I plan on doing anyway, but
the answer would help me to prioritize)
> 

REFERENCES 
[1] https://kernelnewbies.org/OutreachyfirstpatchSetup


-- 
Sincerely,
Bruno | Pronouns: they/them/theirs
IRC: CodeAgain

Re: Information for the Kernelnewbies Outreachy Docs

[Alison Schofield]

On Fri, Apr 01, 2022 at 06:38:47PM -0300, Bruno Moreira-Guedes wrote:
> On Tue, 2022-03-29 at 10:54 -0700, Alison Schofield wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 29, 2022 at 01:24:17PM -0300,
> > brunodout.dev@gmail.com wrote:
> NOTE: I posted my first e-mail with my gmail account, but the above
> address and the one I'm using right now are the same person.
> > > 
> > > I am sharing some info that could be updated in the KernelNewbies
> > > Outreachy tutorial.  Some instructions for Arch(/Arch based) users
> > > and possibly other minimalist VM setups
> > 
> > These sound very useful. Can you update the wiki yourself:
> > 
> > From the https://kernelnewbies.org/Outreachyfirstpatch :
> > 
> > 'To edit the wiki, create an account, and then send an email to
> > the outreachy@lists.linux.dev with the subject "[KERNEL NEWBIES
> > ACCESS]
> > username", where username is your kernel newbies username.'
> 
> Just a follow up, I already requested a couple of days ago, and I have
> updated the OutreachyfirstpatchSetup page[1] now including the
> enumerated items from the previous e-mail and some new details.

I took a look at the wiki diff. Thank you!
I guess our next ArchLinux user will test those out ;)

> 
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > Alison
> > 
> > > 
> > > REQUIREMENTS
> > > 
> > > 3. Possibly python3
> > > I was following the tutorial for the staging kernel tree,
> > > and ran `make` to build the kernel (I usually run `make
> > > bzImage` followed by `make modules`, like usual in 2005
> > > LOL), and got an error that python3 wasn't found. I installed 
> > > python but then switched back to my old procedure and it worked.
> > > I'm not sure if the default target isn't doing something else,
> > > since re docs[1] also don't mention python3 as a requirement.
> 
> I added this requirement and detailed the reason it might be needed:
> several self-test and kunit tools in the /tools tree require python.
> It likely explains why I just got the missing python error when I
> built with `make` (default target) and not when running `make bzImage
> && make modules`.
> 
> I also added perl, which wasn't missing in my list but in minimalist
> setups it might. Also added information regarding perl modules that
> might be necessary for other tools, that could be installed easily
> with `cpan`.
> 
> > > 
> > > ARCH PACKAGE NAMES
> > > 
> > > some packages will be differently named. I have listed them just
> > > in case anyone feels stuck:
> > > 
> > > 1. gitk => already contained in: git
> > > 2. git-email => already contained in: git
> 
> I detailed the above differences in packaging scheme in the wiki, but
> I didn't update the information below:
> 
> > > 3. esmtp => libesmtp
> 
> Turns out this information was wrong, libesmtp and esmtp are not the
> same package with different names as I thought, it's actually not
> provided in ArchLinux official packages (to my knowledge). I think
> users might find a build package in the AUR repo, though. However, the
> `mail` utility, from the 's-nail' package, can also be used to achieve
> the same goals. I'll go back there and write about that at some point.
> 
> > > 
> > > REFERENCES
> > > [1] https://docs.kernel.org/process/changes.html
> > > 
> Regarding kernel docs missing some points, mentioned in the original
> post, could I update kernel docs on that too? I've found the online
> docs to be based on the docs present in Documentation. Also, would it
> count towards my 10 patches requirements? (I plan on doing anyway, but
> the answer would help me to prioritize)
> > 

Updating Documents/process/changes.rst will be appreciated.
That file changes the same PATCH guidelines as any other to the Linux
Kernel tree.

And, yes, count it as a PATCH. It's a PATCH!

Also, add contributions to WIKI docs on your application as a line item.
Perhaps applicants can group WIKI docs updates into one contribution
bucket on the application.

Thanks,
Alison

> 
> REFERENCES 
> [1] https://kernelnewbies.org/OutreachyfirstpatchSetup
> 
> 
> -- 
> Sincerely,
> Bruno | Pronouns: they/them/theirs
> IRC: CodeAgain