The latest kernel update for stretch-backports seems to solve the
problems with vlc. This update was on Thu, Feb 14 2019. The logfile
/var/log/aptitude says:
Aptitude 0.8.7: log report
Thu, Feb 14 2019 03:41:42 +0100
IMPORTANT: this log only lists intended actions; actions which fail
due to dpkg problems may not be completed.
Will install 4 packages, and remove 0 packages.
151 MB of disk space will be used
========================================
[HOLD, DEPENDENCIES] manpages-de:i386 2.9-1~bpo9+1
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] apparmor:i386 2.11.0-3+deb9u2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] libapparmor-perl:i386 2.11.0-3+deb9u2
[INSTALL, DEPENDENCIES] linux-image-4.19.0-0.bpo.2-686-pae:i386 4.19.16-1~bpo9+1
[UPGRADE] linux-image-686-pae:i386 4.19+101~bpo9+1 -> 4.19+102~bpo9+1
========================================
Log complete.
Then we may update the results table to:
Kernel 4.9.130 4.18.20 4.19.12 4.19.16
------ ------- ------- ------- -------
vlc-3.0.3 okay okay program_hangs okay
vlc-3.0.6 okay okay program_hangs okay
The tested kernels are:
package-version kernel-version
--------------- --------------
linux-image-4.9.0-8-686-pae 4.9.130-2
linux-image-4.18.0-0.bpo.3-686-pae 4.18.20-2~bpo9+1
linux-image-4.19.0-0.bpo.1-686-pae 4.19.12-1~bpo9+1
linux-image-4.19.0-0.bpo.2-686-pae 4.19.16-1~bpo9+1
These packages are referenced by a meta-package linux-image-686-pae,
which still has a different numbering scheme.
I don't know, what caused the problems with vlc, or what solved them in
the end. I suspected at some point, that there might be changes to the
"radeon" driver, but there are no obvious changes to "radeon" between
kernel 4.19.12 and 4.19.16. So it might be a side effect of something
completely different.
I learned, that old package versions can be found at
https://snapshot.debian.org/ , if others like to repeat these tests.
Regards,
Hartmut Buhrmester
