[Bug 1962225] Re: preinst check that kernel revision < 255 now does more harm than good

[Martin Klosi]

I'm trying to install the fixed package on a docker image, running
Ubuntu 18.04.6, but I get: `91mE: Version '2.35-0ubuntu3' for 'libc6'
was not found`. Running: `RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends
libc6=2.35-0ubuntu3`

Ubuntu version: 
19:36:03  NAME="Ubuntu"
19:36:03  VERSION="18.04.6 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"
19:36:03  ID=ubuntu
19:36:03  ID_LIKE=debian
19:36:03  PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS"
19:36:03  VERSION_ID="18.04"
19:36:03  HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
19:36:03  SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
19:36:03  BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
19:36:03  PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
19:36:03  VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
19:36:03  UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

Dockerfile: 
FROM ubuntu:bionic
RUN cat /etc/os-release
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt list -a libc6

Available libc6 versions: 
19:36:11  libc6:
19:36:11    Installed: 2.27-3ubuntu1.4
19:36:11    Candidate: 2.27-3ubuntu1.5
19:36:11    Version table:
19:36:11       2.27-3ubuntu1.5 500
19:36:11          500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 Packages
19:36:11          500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-security/main amd64 Packages
19:36:11   *** 2.27-3ubuntu1.4 100
19:36:11          100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
19:36:11       2.27-3ubuntu1 500
19:36:11          500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 Packages

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1962225

Title:
  preinst check that kernel revision < 255 now does more harm than good

Status in glibc package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in glibc source package in Bionic:
  Confirmed
Status in glibc source package in Focal:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  [impact]
  Amazon Linux 2 currently has a kernel with version 4.14.262-200.489.amzn2.x86_64. This causes complaints from libc6's preinst that asserts that the "revision" part of the kernel version is less than 255.

  The significance of the check is much less than it used to be when the
  major part of the kernel version was stuck at 2, so we should follow
  Debian and just drop it.

  [test case]
  Boot an Amazon Linux 2 instance. Install docker. Run an ubuntu container of the series being tested. Run "apt-get update && apt-get install --reinstall libc6" and look for error messages / failures.

  [regression potential]
  It's possible that some binaries run using the "uname26" personality will fail -- but they will already fail with the glibc as currently installed, there's no value in preventing an upgrade.

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