On 27/02/2024 04:55, Duncan wrote:
Andrew Nowa Ammerlaan posted on Mon, 26 Feb 2024 18:13:32 +0100 as
excerpted:
Removing sys-kernel/installkernel from your system WILL change the way
kernels are installed by 'make install'! Instead of the versioned
/boot/vmlinuz-x.y.z that you are used to, 'make install' will simply
copy bzImage (or equivalent for you arch) into /boot. This image may not
be picked up by your bootloader or its configuration tools.
I'm uncomfortable with that unconditional, "SHOUTED" even, "WILL".
That isn't the case here -- I've been getting versioned images without the
debianutils-based installkernel script for years.
I'm going to disagree here, this *is* the case. If you have it installed
and remove it, then the way the kernel is installed will change.
The point is that I have seen *many* users on our various support
channels that thought they either:
- did not use installkernel before when they actually did and therefore
disregard the instructions in the news item, or
- thought the news item did not apply to them because they misunderstand
what 'make install' does, and therefore disregard essential instructions
in the news item, or
- complain that they don't want automation, when they have in fact been
using this tool for ages. Then remove installkernel.
Such misunderstandings can, and have, lead to systems breaking. I do not
want this to happen again and therefore I want it to be very clear that
if you remove installkernel that this will change things for you.
I long ago (when installkernel was still part of debianutils according to
comments in my version, presumably the debianutils default-enabled USE was
set when it was split out to avoid just this sort of surprise at that
time) created my own version based on the debianutils version, but
bashified/comment-and-var-name-clarified and with a config file that
determines various behavior (along with behavior for my other kernel-
related build/patch/config/etc scripts).
Yes sure, you can make your own /sbin/installkernel. And that means you
don't have sys-kernel/installkernel installed and therefore none of this
applies to you.
But for users that do have it installed now, and have it depcleaned,
behavior is changed always. It is therefore not a case of "will likely"
because it will always.
As a side note, latest version of installkernel also supports reading a
config (install.conf), not sure if this suits your needs but might be
worth to check out.
Maybe "will likely", or "will, unless you've specifically configured other
behavior", or "will, unless you've previously setup your own solution"?
("Will" can then be SHOUTED or not, as desired, because the statement is
then sufficiently conditional regardless.)
If you have setup your own solution, then you a) don't have this package
installed to begin with, and b) clearly know what you are doing. This
news item is for those users that a) do currently have installkernel
installed and b) often don't know the intricacies of what 'make install'
and installkernel do.
Best regards,
Andrew
