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Dev Week -- Kernel Discussion - Ben Collins -- Fri, Sep 5

(04:05:21 PM) BenC: Hello
(04:05:39 PM) ***BenC is wondering if there's a format, or does he just start talking
(04:05:43 PM) charlieb: hi BenC
(04:06:02 PM) charlieb: BenC: join #ubuntu-classroom-chat also, there will be questions.
(04:06:09 PM) BenC: Also, is there someone fielding questions for me, or do I need to do it myself?
(04:06:45 PM) davfigue: BenC: you can ask for a volunteer :)
(04:06:55 PM) BenC: davfigue: are you volunteering? :)
(04:07:09 PM) davfigue: BenC: sure
(04:07:16 PM) BenC: davfigue: Thanks
(04:08:21 PM) BenC: Ok, I'll start out with an overview, and bring up some topics, and hopefully grab some questions afterwords
(04:08:42 PM) BenC: Not sure if any of my fellow kernel guys are here to help, but I can poke them if needed
(04:09:25 PM) BenC: If any of you are following intrepid's kernel, you've probably noticed some huge changes during intrepid's cycle
(04:09:31 PM) BenC: I'll list some major highlights:
(04:09:48 PM) BenC: * main kernel source only builds supported architectures (x86 and x86_64)
(04:10:02 PM) BenC: * nvidia/fglrx are not built as dkms packages
(04:10:26 PM) BenC: * linux-restricted-modules has been repackaged
(04:10:41 PM) BenC: * linux-ubuntu-modules has been merged into the ubuntu/ subdirectory of the main kernel source
(04:11:38 PM) BenC: * crashdump facility has been completed and integrated
(04:12:24 PM) BenC: * fallback kernel (last-good-boot) has been implemented
(04:12:51 PM) BenC: Various other things I've since forgotten
(04:13:14 PM) BenC: We mainly wanted to change things up and see what we could accomplish this time around
(04:14:29 PM) BenC: So now, to keep from covering things people have no interest in, I'll take questions :)
(04:14:45 PM) charlieb: BenC: what means that fglrx/nvidia are not build as dkms? when i install fglrx, the package tries to build with dkms.
(04:15:07 PM) BenC: s/not/now/
(04:15:24 PM) BenC: That's new in intrepid
(04:16:30 PM) charlieb: BenC: i use intrepid (2.6.27-2). and there is dkms.
(04:16:41 PM) gQuigs: How is the transition going to dkms/ what works?
(04:16:49 PM) BenC: charlieb: right, that's what's supposed to be there :)
(04:17:18 PM) BenC: charlieb: I said "not" but I meant to type "now built as"
(04:17:53 PM) BenC: gQuigs: the transition started pre-hardy
(04:18:08 PM) BenC: Matt Domsch helped that a lot
(04:19:04 PM) BenC: We plan on moving all of our external modules (IOW, all of lrm) to dkms
(04:19:36 PM) charlieb: BenC: why is there no more openvz-support for intrepid ?
(04:19:56 PM) BenC: charlieb: openvz was supported by the vendor, not us...we rely on them to provide us patches for it
(04:22:32 PM) gQuigs: are linux-ports stuck on 2.6.25 for intrepid?
(04:22:41 PM) BenC: I wouldn't say stuck
(04:23:20 PM) gQuigs: *planning on?
(04:23:49 PM) BenC: We started ports out on the latest stable release
(04:24:06 PM) BenC: In the hopes that community ppl interested in the ports would pick up the ball and run
(04:24:15 PM) BenC: But no one ever did
(04:25:59 PM) gQuigs: so... what would the plans for it be next cycle? assuming no community members pick it up?
(04:26:21 PM) BenC: We'll move it forward to the latest stable, get it building, and let it continue again
(04:27:40 PM) BenC: It wont stagnate, but it could definitely use some love (unless it's working perfectly, in which case, no reason to mess with it)
(04:28:45 PM) devfil: BenC: usually what are the patches applied by Ubuntu to the "original" kernel?
(04:29:08 PM) BenC: devfil: they fall into two categories
(04:29:29 PM) BenC: 1) Patches like apparmor that we put into place to support features we want
(04:30:30 PM) devfil: and?
(04:30:30 PM) BenC: 2) Patches we pull from upstream or write to fix bugs (usually trivial things)
(04:34:12 PM) BenC: Any questions on the move to 2.6.27?
(04:35:23 PM) gQuigs: I noticed virtualbox still requires 2.6.26, how many more things are in the same boat?
(04:35:36 PM) BenC: Why does vbox require 2.6.26?
(04:35:45 PM) BenC: I thought for sure we put fixes in to help with that
(04:36:03 PM) gQuigs: err, at least the version in the repositories isn't updated for 2.6.27 yet
(04:36:25 PM) BenC: is vbox using dkms to build it's kernel modules?
(04:36:35 PM) BenC: if not, that's a problem with vbox's packaging :)
(04:37:53 PM) gQuigs: it doesn't look like it uses dkms
(04:38:45 PM) BenC: I suggest filing a bug then
(04:39:03 PM) smb_tp: Not currently but it would be a good move, as Ben said
(04:39:12 PM) BenC: If it isn't using dkms, then it is going to have to keep up post-release with security updates anyway (which is nothing to do with 2.6.27)
(04:40:01 PM) devfil: BenC: what do you think about prefetch (https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/prefetch)? there is a chance to have it integrated in intrepid+1?
(04:41:28 PM) BenC: devfil: I think the platform team would have to get some data to see if it's even going to help
(04:43:40 PM) devfil: BenC: prefetch + compcache (already included) should make Ubuntu more fast and a lot of people want this
(04:44:40 PM) BenC: devfil: I can't disagree with you, but we need actual data points to make the patching of stock kernel source warranted
(04:44:54 PM) BenC: if it only gives a 1% speedup, that's not worth the extra effort
(04:45:23 PM) devfil: you're right
(04:46:19 PM) gQuigs: any chance in getting doc in startup screen about getting around badram?  (http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/3/11/319)
(04:47:56 PM) BenC: gQuigs: Not sure...might be something worth writing a spec for
(04:48:17 PM) BenC: UDS is coming up in 3 months :)
(04:48:49 PM) gQuigs: will do
(04:52:36 PM) Czessi__ is now known as Czessi
(04:52:48 PM) gQuigs: well, thank you for answering all of my questions :)
(04:53:01 PM) BenC: No problem
(04:53:26 PM) BenC: I think I'll close with a big thanks to everyone for testing and helping to track down issues :)