Managing kernel-updates in rpm

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Saket Sinha]

Hi,

       We have a rpm which installs a linux kernel driver. Now this
driver has some kernel-level dependencies especially Development Tools
(kernel-headers etc) such that they depend on running kernel version.

Now in the rpm we provide drivers for different kernel versions since
the user can update the kernel. In the rpm's SPEC file, we match the
running kernel version with our driver for that particular version and
install it.

If the user has updated its kernel to such a version whose driver is
not present in the RPM, the installation fails. We tell user in the
error message to update the kernel to a supported version.

Now this is very cumbersome and we plan to replace it with installing
a yum plugin through our rpm which allows user to update the kernel
level dependencies.

Is this a right approach?

Regards,
Saket Sinha

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[parinay]

Saket,

IMO, explore the option of kABI and/or DKMS.

http://people.redhat.com/jcm/el6/dup/docs/dup_book.pdf
http://linux.dell.com/dkms/dkms-ols2004.pdf

HTH


On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 12:54 PM, Saket Sinha <saket.sinha89@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>        We have a rpm which installs a linux kernel driver. Now this
> driver has some kernel-level dependencies especially Development Tools
> (kernel-headers etc) such that they depend on running kernel version.
>
> Now in the rpm we provide drivers for different kernel versions since
> the user can update the kernel. In the rpm's SPEC file, we match the
> running kernel version with our driver for that particular version and
> install it.
>
> If the user has updated its kernel to such a version whose driver is
> not present in the RPM, the installation fails. We tell user in the
> error message to update the kernel to a supported version.
>
> Now this is very cumbersome and we plan to replace it with installing
> a yum plugin through our rpm which allows user to update the kernel
> level dependencies.
>
> Is this a right approach?
>
> Regards,
> Saket Sinha
>
> _______________________________________________
> Kernelnewbies mailing list
> Kernelnewbies at kernelnewbies.org
> http://lists.kernelnewbies.org/mailman/listinfo/kernelnewbies



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begin right and you're easy
continue easy and you're right
the right way to go easy is to forget the right way
and forget that the going is easy....

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Saket Sinha]

Let me describe a scenario to explain my question -

I first deployed a RHEL machine which happened to boot into
kernel-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64.
Some time later I decided to install kernel-headers and kernel-devel,
and therefore I ended up with kernel-devel-2.6.32-431.5.1.el6.x86_64
and kernel-headers-2.6.32-431.5.1.el6.x86_64. Note that these differ
from the running kernel in minor version (358 and 431). This is normal
and expected with RHEL but it breaks the installation of my driver.

I will also explain why my driver has dependencies on these packages

In this condition, my driver rpm will try to install a driver for
version 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64 which is the currently running
kernel. Since the rpm does not contain a driver for this exact kernel,
 I do not fail my driver.

NOW HERE WHAT CAN I DO. I HAVE FOUND THE FOLLOWING SOLUTION.
 In my rpm's SPEC file, I try to build my driver with kernel-devel &
Development Tools. Thus my rpm has dependencies on two packages
kernel-devel and development-tools. Most of the times this is
successful. But look at the above scenario.
What all I have in the above scenario-

kernel-devel-2.6.32-431.5.1.el6.x86_64
kernel-headers-2.6.32-431.5.1.el6.x86_64
kernel-firmware-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.noarch
kernel-2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64

 And although it appears that kernel-devel is installed, it is
installed for a different version from the running kernel, hence the
failure.

Now I thought of installing a yum plugin with my rpm to handle kernel
updates rather than the above approach. Is this approach right?

Regards,
Saket Sinha

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 12:54:12PM +0530, Saket Sinha wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>        We have a rpm which installs a linux kernel driver. Now this
> driver has some kernel-level dependencies especially Development Tools
> (kernel-headers etc) such that they depend on running kernel version.

I'd ask you first off, why is your kernel driver not merged upstream
with the main kernel.org releases, to prevent any of these issues from
ever happening?

Do you have a pointer to your driver somewhere so we can look at it to
determine what is needed to be done to get it merged properly?

thanks,

greg k-h

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Saket Sinha]

Hi Greg,

Please find my response inline-

>>
>>        We have a rpm which installs a linux kernel driver. Now this
>> driver has some kernel-level dependencies especially Development Tools
>> (kernel-headers etc) such that they depend on running kernel version.
>
> I'd ask you first off, why is your kernel driver not merged upstream
> with the main kernel.org releases, to prevent any of these issues from
> ever happening?
>
   Its a proprietary driver so its not meant to be the part of
mainline kernel.  :(

> Do you have a pointer to your driver somewhere so we can look at it to
> determine what is needed to be done to get it merged properly?
>

I am sorry but I am not allowed to do that.

Regards,
Saket Sinha

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu]

On Tue, 25 Mar 2014 18:18:35 +0530, Saket Sinha said:

>    Its a proprietary driver so its not meant to be the part of
> mainline kernel.  :(

Hey Greg - how long did Linux carry around an entire freaking *architecture*
for the Voyager when there were only like 4 systems on the *planet* still in
existence?

> > Do you have a pointer to your driver somewhere so we can look at it to
> > determine what is needed to be done to get it merged properly?

> I am sorry but I am not allowed to do that.

If you can't do that, you *probably* can't legally ship the code to customers
either.  Just thought you should consider that...
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Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 09:32:11AM -0400, Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu wrote:
> On Tue, 25 Mar 2014 18:18:35 +0530, Saket Sinha said:
> 
> >    Its a proprietary driver so its not meant to be the part of
> > mainline kernel.  :(
> 
> Hey Greg - how long did Linux carry around an entire freaking *architecture*
> for the Voyager when there were only like 4 systems on the *planet* still in
> existence?

There was only 1 working system, and it was years :)

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 06:18:35PM +0530, Saket Sinha wrote:
> Hi Greg,
> 
> Please find my response inline-
> 
> >>
> >>        We have a rpm which installs a linux kernel driver. Now this
> >> driver has some kernel-level dependencies especially Development Tools
> >> (kernel-headers etc) such that they depend on running kernel version.
> >
> > I'd ask you first off, why is your kernel driver not merged upstream
> > with the main kernel.org releases, to prevent any of these issues from
> > ever happening?
> >
>    Its a proprietary driver so its not meant to be the part of
> mainline kernel.  :(
> 
> > Do you have a pointer to your driver somewhere so we can look at it to
> > determine what is needed to be done to get it merged properly?
> >
> 
> I am sorry but I am not allowed to do that.

Then I'm not allowed to help you, and asking for help from the community
seems a bit rude to the community that you are relying on for your
product.

Take a look at this for details:
	http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/technical-advisory-board-tab/kerneldriverstatement

Good luck with the lawsuits,

greg k-h

Managing kernel-updates in rpm

[Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu]

On Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:54:12 +0530, Saket Sinha said:

> Now this is very cumbersome and we plan to replace it with installing
> a yum plugin through our rpm which allows user to update the kernel
> level dependencies.

dkms is your friend.  Look to see how VirtualBox and NVidia use it for their
kernel code.
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