From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263273AbVFXWcl (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Jun 2005 18:32:41 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263265AbVFXWck (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Jun 2005 18:32:40 -0400 Received: from emailhub.stusta.mhn.de ([141.84.69.5]:19983 "HELO mailout.stusta.mhn.de") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S261630AbVFXWbQ (ORCPT ); Fri, 24 Jun 2005 18:31:16 -0400 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 00:31:15 +0200 From: Adrian Bunk To: Christian Hesse Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] Kernel .patches support Message-ID: <20050624223115.GL6656@stusta.de> References: <200506232358.34897.mail@earthworm.de> <20050624073624.GB26545@stusta.de> <200506242303.17813.mail@earthworm.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200506242303.17813.mail@earthworm.de> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.9i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Fri, Jun 24, 2005 at 11:03:17PM +0200, Christian Hesse wrote: > On Friday 24 June 2005 09:36, Adrian Bunk wrote: > > On Thu, Jun 23, 2005 at 11:58:27PM +0200, Christian Hesse wrote: > > > Hi everybody, > > > > > > every time I apply a patch to my kernel tree I (or my scripts) make an > > > > > > echo $PATCHNAME $PATCHVERSION >> .patches > > > > > > This patch makes the file accessible via /proc/patches.gz. I think this > > > can be handy if you want to know what patches you (or your distributor) > > > applied to your running kernel... > > >... > > > Let me know what you think. > > > > To be honest, I'm not a fan of it. > > > > If e.g. looking at a Debian kernel source that has 289 different patches > > with names like tty-locking-fixes7 applied, you'll see that this often > > won't give you much valuable information. > > You can search Debian lists, archives, ... for "tty-locking-fixes7". After > that you probably know what the fix is good for. The _only_ Google hit for "tty-locking-fixes7" isn't very helpful. I could simply download the source package for the kernel... > On the other hand if there is a security fix in a Debian list you can check if > your kernel is patched by running "zcat /proc/patches.gz | grep > security-fix-foo-bar". "zless /usr/share/doc//Debian.src.changelog.gz" already gives you the same information plus information about the contents of the patches including CAN references and bug numbers. > > You'd need an uniform naming convention for patches across > > distributions, and I don't think such things are worth the effort. > > If a distribution has a naming convention for itself this patch can already be > useful I think. Even without it can be. If you are building your own kernel, you have to manually check that you don't forget to add every patch you apply to .patches . In a distribution, the information is already present at better places. > Christian cu Adrian -- "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days. "Only a promise," Lao Er said. Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed