Colin: FWIW, I think some kind of warning on cdimage and in the alpha release notes seems highly prudent (not because of the bogus liability claims here, but just because it's the good thing to do). I would suggest:
"Due to an unresolved bug in the Linux kernel currently used in Ubuntu 8.10 users with Intel network hardware supported by the e1000e driver should not download and run these images. Doing so may render your network hardware permanently inoperable. Older Intel network hardware which uses the e1000 driver is not affected by this, however, use of the e1000 driver in older Ubuntu releases is not a reliable indication of which driver will be used by Ubuntu 8.10. Support for hardware which uses a PCI Express bus has been moved from e1000 to e1000e. If in doubt, do not run these images and subscribe to https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/263555 to receive notifications when the bug is fixed." Steve: I am not sure exactly where the responsibility for handling this for the Alphas falls (other than being quite sure it's not mine, and suspecting it's yours ;) but I think we should put warnings out fairly prominently, as SuSE has done. The obvious safe default would be to yank e1000e.ko and replace the above warning with something similar which explains why newer Intel network hardware won't work in the Alphas. It's a bit of a nuclear option since there is a lot of this hardware around and the bug mostly seems to be affecting laptops, but since they tend to be doing a lot more "interesting" kernel work (suspending, frequent loading of modules, etc) it could simply be that they are exposing it more easily and server hardware is just as capable of being affected. For those wishing to discuss this bug, its implications, etc. there is a forum thread which seems more suitable for this, see: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=912666 -- [intrepid] 2.6.27 e1000e kernel places Intel gigE chipsets at risk https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/263555 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
