On 2015-12-03 17:33, James Cloos wrote: > The latest glibc update breaks most sid installs on (typically leased) > openvz platforms because it requires a newer kernel version that most > openvz vendors advertize. > > Most openvz run on kernels based on 2.6.32, often with significant > updates. These platforms are an important segment, given how affordable > they are. And Debian "stable" is often too archaic for many needs which > fit nicely on a small inexpensive server.
If you consider Debian "stable" as too archaic, I am missing words to qualify a 2.6.32 kernel released in 2009. Prehistoric maybe? > There should be a way to continue to use sid on these platforms. > > Adding a hold on libc6 only causes other problems, since so much now > depends on 2.21 and apt will drop them if libc6 is held on 2.19. > > Is there another option to avoid the breakage? One solution is to use jessie plus backports. This will be supported up to at least May 2018, probably May 2020. The minimum required version in the glibc is something configurable at build time (to some extents, the absolute minimum is 2.6.32 for glibc 2.21). This configure how much compatibility glue is used to workaround the missing syscalls. This compatibility glue is bloating the libc, and usually also have bugs which triggers for old kernels, but also sometimes for new kernels. For example recently someone wanted to push the minimum version to 3.15 to fix an issue with pthread_cond_broadcast on ARM. That's the reason why historically we have always required for a glibc from release N, at least the kernel from release N-2. This means for stretch, the kernel from wheezy, ie 3.2. Supporting bleeding edge software with an archaic kernel is not something easy to do, and other parts of the distribution simply don't, especially since the switch to systemd. Aurelien -- Aurelien Jarno GPG: 4096R/1DDD8C9B aurel...@aurel32.net http://www.aurel32.net
