linux-tool package for mainline builds

[Ferenc Fejes]

Hi!

On Thu, 2022-07-14 at 14:48 +0100, Dimitri John Ledkov wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Wed, 13 Jul 2022 at 06:41, Ferenc Fejes
> <ferenc.fejes at ericsson.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Hello!
> > 
> > I used to test kernels, trying out the latest version, and
> > switching
> > back and forth bitween older and the recent version. However that
> > contains the linux-image, linux-headers and linux-modules packages.
> > My
> > question is: it would be possible to build the linux-tools and
> > linux-
> > libc packages too? Does that consume too much resources? It would
> > be
> > really nice to have tools like perf and bpftool for every kernel
> > build.
> > Is there something which blocks the build of linux-tools like
> > unsatisfieable requirements?
> 
> In terms of changing packaging it needs time or patches to our
> debian/
> debian.master/ directories to ensure that tools & libc packages are
> built  I.e. we currently set
> 
> ifeq ($(do_mainline_build),true)
>         do_extras_package=false
>         do_tools=false
> ...
> 
> To ensure that -extras package is not produced; dkms modules not
> built; etc.

I see, thanks for the info.

> 
> making tools is reasonable i guess; they are version dependent and do
> have frequent new features added.

I'm glad you agree its reasonable. I think the audience is limited to
enthusiasts, but if that does not costs much on your side for those who
need it (including myself) this would means a lot.

> 
> I am not sure about linux-libc-dev however. Why do you need it? And
> how you will consume it?

Well I just bring that here as an example, I only plan to use the
linux-tools.

> 
> At the moment linux-libc can only be installed system-wide in a
> single
> path location, and we try to keep it at a minimum common base (i.e.
> GA-generic). Unlike installing all the other mainline build packages,
> linux-libc-dev is not currently co-installable thus if one upgrades
> it
> to a mainline build suddenly one may start to fail to build user
> space
> packages; or build ABI incompatible userspace packages.
> 

Thanks for the clarification, I was not aware of that. Just forget that
I mentioned linux-libc.

Do you think it would be possible to build linux-tools in a future? I
would be happy to test it if you have something, and report if it works
here.

Best,
Ferenc