The linux Kernel introduced an upstream commit designed to remove an interface that was being misused.
That does not meet the kind of requirements for changes that we (Debian) make in stable releases. If I filed an unblock for krb5 to remove an interface at this point in the release process it would be outright refused. Even if krb5 had multiple levels of visibility and even if I filed an unblock to change interface visibility it would be refused. Even if I filed an unblock to change interface visibility to prevent other people from violating the krb5 license it would be refused. We are more permissive in what changes we accept from the kernel team. There are a lot of reasons for that. But I think it's more that we're changing the default for changes from the kernel team, than that we necessarily want the kernel team to be more able to break other software in stable than other packages. That is, if we had the resources to review the changes adequately and do adequate testing, I actually suspect we would hold the kernel to the same standards we hold other packages to. I do not think this particular change would meet those standards for buster. I think this change clearly meets those standards for unstable. And yet, as I said above, we do hold the kernel to different standards for stable releases for a variety of reasons. However, even if the default is that we are more permissive with the kernel, we can review the complex cases on a case by case basis. And we should review that based on what is best for Debian, not what is best for the kernel team. I'm not saying the kernel team should revert the commit. I'm saying that the issue is far more complex than has been outlined in this bug so far. I think that the kernel team and the ZOL maintainers should work with the stable release team for buster to figure out which changes are permissible. Ultimately I'd expect that the stable release team will get to decide which changes they want in buster and I hope that the kernel team and the ZOL maintainers will work with that.
