On Thu, 2019-05-02 at 14:44 +0200, Björn Persson wrote: > Package: src:linux > Version: 4.9.168-1 > Severity: critical > File: /boot/vmlinuz-4.9.0-9-686 > Justification: breaks the whole system > > Dear Maintainer, > > Debian 9 fails to boot on a Soekris net5501 with a Geode LX processor. > Debian 8 worked fine. Running Debian 9 on Linux 3.16.0-8-586 from Debian > 8 works. (That's what I'm running Reportbug on.) Linux 4.9.0-7-686, > 4.9.0-8-686 and 4.9.0-9-686 appear to hang early in the boot process. > The disk activity light remains lit when the system hangs. I'm attaching > a boot log acquired over a serial console. > > I'm reporting this against the kernel because replacing only the kernel > works around the problem, but it looks like SystemD has been started > when the hang occurs, so I suppose a userspace issue can't be completely > ruled out. > > Given that a kernel compiled for i586 works and one compiled for i686 > does not, one might suspect that the processor isn't i686-compatible. > This seems to be rather unclear. According to the release notes this > processor should still be supported. It has all of the flags that this > script tests for: > https://www.debian.org/releases/stretch/i386/release-notes/ch-information#i386-is-now-almost-i686 [...]
The Geode LX's CPUID has family=5 (586), but I agree with your understanding that it has all the important features of a 686 and should still be supported. In fact, I've specifically enabled continued support for it in the current (buster/sid) 686 kernel configuration. I'm afraid I don't have any immediate ideas for how to fix or debug this. Ben. -- Ben Hutchings It is easier to write an incorrect program than to understand a correct one.
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