updated system components (kernel, systemd, connman)

asked 2014-05-18 14:58:05 +0200

mornfall
1898 ●19 ●28 ●26

updated 2014-05-20 12:02:06 +0200

Any chance of getting a somewhat recent crop of the upstream components that make up our low-level Linux on Jolla? What we run now has been dated half a year ago, it's positively ancient now (kernel 3.4, systemd 187, connman 1.15). I don't know where sailfish gets the kernel, but both systemd and connman are known-buggy, no longer supported versions, and if btrfs in the kernel is from 3.4, it's known-buggy and ancient too. Currently viable upstreams would be probably more like kernel 3.12, systemd 212 and connman 1.21. I understand that there may be regressions in those, but lingering on with those updates is causing a disconnect between sailfish and the rest of the Linux world.

Especially in light of suspected crash bugs due to btrfs and the persisting connectivity problems (connman), an update seems like a very worthwhile investment?

UPDATE: I'm collecting TJC issues that require system component updates here (if you have more, please leave them in comments, I'll update the list):

Possibly also related:

https://together.jolla.com/question/42917/bug-btrfs-lockup-wayland-lipstick-or-whatever-crashed-during-email-sync-connman-probably-involved/

UPDATE 2: It seems that the main blocker in updating the kernel are binary blobs tied to 3.4. However, this is basically wlan.ko, and the prima driver from codeaurora.org (https://www.codeaurora.org/cgit/external/wlan/prima/) would work with our wifi as a replacement. There used to be a proprietary Myriad blob used by Alien Dalvik, but no longer. And linux 3.12 has freedreno KMS, so it would be possible to use the freedreno gallium/mesa driver with wayland/lipstick as well, instead of the libhybris Qualcomm blob. Freedom, anyone?

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2

problem is you may not upgrade the kernel when 3rd parties do not provide their kernel-modules for the one you'd like to upgrade to

chemist ( 2014-05-18 16:02:08 +0200 )edit

3

so are we hostage to proprietary blobs that only work with linux 3.4? that's not exactly ... nice; are those something else besides the qualcomm wlan.ko?

mornfall ( 2014-05-18 16:35:01 +0200 )edit

As far as things go, everything depends on Qualcomm. Even newer Android devices depend on 3.4, which ends up to Qualcom blobs. I remember tha Jolla stated they would have like going fully open source, but it takes time. Maybe code aurora is the place to look at, but for the time being I think we will stay on this kernel.

magullo ( 2014-05-18 19:25:49 +0200 )edit

well, for android it's not that much of a problem, but partly because of btrfs and partly because of the more modern userspace, sailfish/jolla is stuck between a rock and a hard place, with regards to linux 3.4...

mornfall ( 2014-05-18 19:41:40 +0200 )edit

They are working on an updated conman AFAIK. For the other parts i have no idea.

ApB ( 2014-05-18 22:59:11 +0200 )edit

14

answered 2014-05-19 15:16:16 +0200

plundstr

266 ●3 ●5 ●8

Next update will bring systemd 208 + some handpicked features and bug fixes from systemd 212. We couldn't go any higher version because systemd 212 requires later kernel version than we have.

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"requires later kernel version than we have"
And we are unlikely to see an updated kernel?

strongm ( 2014-05-19 15:29:44 +0200 )edit

2

That's certainly a step forward, but this all hangs on the kernel. Is there a list of stuff that the kernel needs on top of vanilla? I suppose wakelocks and android-ish stuff like that was never upstreamed? Then the qualcomm wlan driver (is it this? https://www.codeaurora.org/cgit/external/wlan/). Any other binary blobs baked into the kernel?

mornfall ( 2014-05-19 15:30:21 +0200 )edit

1

@strongm - I doubt Jolla is at liberty in chosing the kernel - I think they are shipping the one their hardware vendor supports. It should be possible to cherry-pick and backport important features and bugfixes from more recent kernels, but I doubt it would be practical to do this for non-critical bug fixes.

mikelima ( 2014-05-20 15:50:35 +0200 )edit

10

answered 2014-05-19 18:09:22 +0200

dsilveira
7805 ●77 ●110 ●101

Jolla could really leverage the community on this one,

tell us what are the blockers to the kernel update, and then let us help you port the necessary missing bits to recent kernels!

Come on Jolla!

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2

There is a major technical difficulty with this: we don't have serial console access. Tweaking your kernel on Jolla, as things are, seems to run a huge risk of bricking the device, possibly beyond what you can repair without special equipment. I don't know how "standalone" the recovery mode is, i.e. whether it uses an independent kernel stashed somewhere else than the "normal boot" kernel?

mornfall ( 2014-05-19 18:17:05 +0200 )edit

1

well, then we should ask Jolla to supply us console access after setting developper mode on

dsilveira ( 2014-05-19 18:39:50 +0200 )edit

1

We actually did minor update to kernel in update7. The kernel now follows the long term supported linux-stable 3.4 branch. On update7 we merged 3.4.87 tag from linux-stable. More linux-stable fixes will come in future releases. For update8 it looks like to be 3.4.91. Main focus at the moment is on keeping the kernel rock solid stable, not to add more features.

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/log/?h=linux-3.4.y

kjokinie ( 2014-06-18 12:35:08 +0200 )edit

@kjokinie: that's great... i should also note that 3.4 will go EOL at some point, so moving to a newer LTSI kernel would be nice... but i would suggest it be > 3.17.2 so, maybe the next ltsi kernel? it doesn't have to happen now, but if next year (or more) i got a 3.18 or whatever will be ltsi, i'd like it a lot. i kinda miss correct btrfs-send/receive ...

AL13N ( 2014-11-01 13:20:50 +0200 )edit

updated system components (kernel, systemd, connman)

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