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On 18/01/2021 20:43, Phil Perry wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:e5686f98-7b37-f6b4-d5fc-db565b95003a@elrepo.org">
<br>
On 18/01/2021 18:18, neil watson wrote:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Hi
<br>
<br>
Firstly thanks for all the work you do to support older kit (eg
older Dell RAID controllers!)
<br>
<br>
I've had a look through the archive and can't spot any comments
on the widely reported discontinuation of Centos 8 from the end
of the year...
<br>
<br>
I really hope that ElRepo will continue to support Centos-8-type
releases are that built to fill the gap - I know there are some
in the pipeline - as I can believe that, like Centos, other RHEL
derived distributions still won't have the "older" drivers that
ElRepo provides
<br>
<br>
Maybe there's a place for a notice on the website / Blog
explaining what you are planning?
<br>
<br>
Regards
<br>
<br>
Neil.
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Hi Neil,
<br>
<br>
Thank you for your kind words!
<br>
<br>
We are still in the phase of trying to figure out what these
changes mean for us and how they will impact ELRepo users.
<br>
<br>
ELRepo has always taken the stance that we support RHEL, and by
extention that includes all RHEL compatible clones. Traditionally,
this has included distributions such as CentOS and Scientific
Linux (and any new clones assuming they retain compatibility),
whilst other distributions such as ClearOS, although based on
RHEL, make modifications to their kernel which renders many of our
packages incompatible. This highlights just how important binary
compatibility of the kernel is for ELRepo packages/users.
<br>
<br>
Red Hat have chosen to discontinue CentOS Linux 8 at the end of
2021. Red Hat have proposed CentOS Stream as it's replacement in
many environments. Unfortunately for us, CentOS Stream, now being
upstream of conventional RHEL releases, gets changes to the kernel
which are scheduled for the next RHEL minor point release (their
kernels diverge). These changes often break kernel ABI (kABI)
compatibility and may cause ELRepo packages to no longer work.
<br>
<br>
At present, kernel releases to Stream are relatively few (maybe
once per month) but the intention is for them to significantly
increase to maybe weekly and potentially even daily. The kmod
standard that ELRepo uses to package and deliver drivers for RHEL
is totally dependent on the stable kABI that RHEL affords.
<br>
<br>
So what does this mean for ELRepo users in practice? Well,
preliminary testing of the first kernel update to EL8.3 in CentOS
Stream indicates that 13 out of 44 kmod packages tested were
broken by the kernel update. I have not bothered testing the
second updateas it's only going to get worse. It is simply not
possible (for ELRepo) to deliver kmod packages against a
constantly moving target such as the CentOS Stream kernel, and
even if we could, these newly fixed packages would likely no
longer be compatible with RHEL. We would be looking at a whole new
repository or project for ELRepo-Stream and we do not have the
resources to do that.
<br>
<br>
ELRepo will continue to support RHEL and compatible clones.
Unfortunately it does not look like CentOS Stream falls into that
category at present. I have suggested that CentOS make the
conventional RHEL kernels available in Stream alongside the newer
Stream kernels for those who need that kABI stability and others
have proposed other solutions. People who need that kABI
compatibility also have the option of rebuilding the RHEL kernel
for themselves for use on Stream. But for now, ELRepo are unable
to officially support CentOS Stream kernels. In reality your
package may continue to work but if/when it breaks, we will not be
able to officially support it. Hopefully CentOS will be able to
offer a solution that allows ELRepo packages to continue to work
on CentOS Stream.
<br>
<br>
ELRepo also offers kernel-ml and kernel-lt packages for EL8 and
these can be used on CentOS-Stream to provide a conveniently
packaged modern kernel (mainline or LTS) with native support for
the legacy hardware Red Hat removed. These newer kernels may
provide a convenient solution for some users whose hardware is not
natively supported on CentOS Stream.
<br>
<br>
Phil
<br>
</blockquote>
Interesting reading. The new Centos stream really puts a spanner in
the works.<br>
<br>
Can I please make a slight correction? Since about ClearOS 7.7,
ClearOS reverted to the upstream kernel unmodified so the ElRepo
packages are now normally directly installable. The only one I
compile differently is the kmod-r8168 where I remove your
blacklisting of the r8169 drivers, but then I request the users also
install the kmod-r8169 driver which removes r8168 compatibility.
We've had that debate before.<br>
<br>
Nick<br>
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