updated system components (kernel, systemd, connman)
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):
- https://together.jolla.com/question/39007/mounting-sd-card-fails-btrfs-extref-option-of-recent-kernels/
- https://together.jolla.com/question/20350/full-power-journalctl/
- https://together.jolla.com/question/15563/add-more-systemd-components/
- https://together.jolla.com/question/22767/btrfs-send-snapshot-gives-error-could-not-resolve-root_id/
Possibly also related:
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?
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 +0300 )editso 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 +0300 )editAs 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 +0300 )editwell, 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 +0300 )editThey are working on an updated conman AFAIK. For the other parts i have no idea.
ApB ( 2014-05-18 22:59:11 +0300 )edit