Kernel dev

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Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Aug 16th, '16, 12:45

I'm a bit hesitant about posting this because of my workload, but...

A few days ago I saw a message from the mailing list come through my email, and I inadvertently deleted it. It says that TMB is out of the loop for at least awhile due to some health issues, and this leaves a big hole.

I'm a kernel developer. I am not currently working in the linux kernel; everything I presently am doing is with freebsd. However I have done a fair amount in the past with linux and it is likely that I will again in the future.

If you need kernel support, I am willing to try to help you. I am a bit hesitant because I AM busy, and I would not like to put the team in the position of having to wait for me to get something done. But, I recognize the difficulty you face and will help to the extent I can.

If someone could contact me by email, we can try to figure out what to do. Maybe I should be posting this on the mailing list, but I'm about to shut my workstation down for a couple of weeks while I go to Thailand, so tracking down the relevant posts on the mailing list is more than I am willing to do at this point in time. I will, of course, be getting my emails, so I can discuss this while I am traveling.

FYI, I am the kernel developer and embedded developer on this project: https://simplewan.com. This is freebsd.
I formerly did kernel and embedded development on this project http://linksat.com. While the website is still up, the product and project is pretty much defunct. This was Linux.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby morgano » Aug 19th, '16, 11:12

The post was at On 12 Aug 2016 7:17 am "[dev] Wanted: adventurous maintainers for orphaned low level stack"
https://ml.mageia.org/l/arc/dev/2016-08/msg00340.html
Last edited by marja on Aug 20th, '16, 12:11, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: remove line about a post that has now been removed
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Aug 19th, '16, 21:33

jiml8 wrote:I'm a bit hesitant about posting this because of my workload, but...
If you need kernel support, I am willing to try to help you. .


Thanks a lot, jiml8!

I can understand that you're hesitant, it is too big a job to do alone when short on time and you might not yet know how in Mageia kernels are packaged, how tmb worked with QA team to get all kernel updates tested etc. etc.

However, we don't expect one person to replace tmb in everything he did. It would be great to put a kernel team together!

Even if you only have time to help by reading some kernel bugs in our bugzilla and, when you can, suggest a fix or attach a patch, that would already help :-D
Or, alternatively, even filing bug reports for security issues that are valid for our kernels, (and don't have a bug report in our bugzilla yet) would help, too.

Please consider replying directly to that message on the mailing list.

I feel tempted to bump a message you posted last year, so that all on the mailing list will remember who you are ;-)
Edit: Actually, I did bump one of your ml messages, because I've never received a reply to it, and it still seems important.

Kind regards,
Marja
Last edited by marja on Aug 20th, '16, 12:08, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: typo fix + add "Edit" line about bumped ml message
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Aug 21st, '16, 18:32

THis message comes to you from Pattaya, Thailand :)

Actually, I did not continue to make use of the mailing list after that particular message went unanswered, because that particular message went unanswered. While I have no idea why it was not answered, as I say, I am busy and I just didn't bother.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Aug 21st, '16, 22:32

jiml8 wrote:THis message comes to you from Pattaya, Thailand :)

That sounds like vacation... enjoy!
Actually, I did not continue to make use of the mailing list after that particular message went unanswered, because that particular message went unanswered. While I have no idea why it was not answered, as I say, I am busy and I just didn't bother.

Without knowing for sure why your mail wasn't answered, it isn't hard to think of a reason: Many developers are overloaded. It is not unusual for mails to not receive an answer. Apart from that, all will have waited for Thomas to answer the mail. Since he was seriously ill some years ago, he has never regained the strength he had before to massively contribute to Mageia in his free time again, but he still had the same tasks as before, anyway.

Anyway, I'm too ignorant about kernels to file a bug report for the unset CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM flag , I don't even know how to check whether it's set on my systems.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby doktor5000 » Aug 22nd, '16, 00:22

marja wrote:Anyway, I'm too ignorant about kernels to file a bug report for the unset CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM flag , I don't even know how to check whether it's set on my systems.

Code: Select all
zgrep -i STRICT_DEVMEM /proc/config.gz
where /proc/config.gz is the config of the currently running kernel.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Aug 22nd, '16, 05:41

That sounds like vacation... enjoy!


Thanks. I am enjoying myself. A friend came in from another part of the world, and we are traveling together.

But, really, this is a gypsy trip. I have my work with me and I actually am making some serious progress on a somewhat complicated VOIP project. It is my third trip out of North America in the last year, and I am finding that I very much enjoy going to an exotic location, staying in a fancy resort, and doing my work in a very different environment.

You should try it. :)
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Aug 22nd, '16, 23:06

doktor5000 wrote:
marja wrote:Anyway, I'm too ignorant about kernels to file a bug report for the unset CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM flag , I don't even know how to check whether it's set on my systems.

Code: Select all
zgrep -i STRICT_DEVMEM /proc/config.gz
where /proc/config.gz is the config of the currently running kernel.


Thanks, Florian, that always shows that it is not set, even for kernel-server:
Code: Select all
[root@localhost marja]# uname -a
Linux localhost 4.7.2-server-1.mga6 #1 SMP Sun Aug 21 23:52:21 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[root@localhost marja]# zgrep -i STRICT_DEVMEM /proc/config.gz
# CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM is not set
[root@localhost marja]#


However, I'm in doubt about filing a bug report, because I read here https://www.redhat.com/archives/crash-utility/2008-November/msg00010.html :
Since the behaviour of /dev/mem can now be controlled via sysctl, we don't need
CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM any more.


I don't know whether/how sysctl or something newer controlls /dev/mem with us, but already spent an hour in vain trying to figure that out.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Aug 22nd, '16, 23:15

jiml8 wrote:You should try it. :)


I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself :-)
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby doktor5000 » Aug 23rd, '16, 19:15

marja wrote:I don't know whether/how sysctl or something newer controlls /dev/mem with us, but already spent an hour in vain trying to figure that out.


Code: Select all
sysctl dev.mem.restricted

or
Code: Select all
sysctl -a|grep -i mem
as root does not yield anything ?

Although from reading https://www.redhat.com/archives/crash-u ... 00015.html seems that in either case, enabled or disabled there will be no change at all ...
The functionality provided by STRICT_DEVMEM is the same with it on or off - absolutely *nothing*.

Although that might be completely out of context that what you need it for, sorry no clue ...
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Aug 30th, '16, 20:56

I have returned from Thailand.

I just logged into the mailing list, and attempted to post a reply to the message about needing kernel support. My login was recognized, but when I hit the "reply" button, I was informed that the function was disabled.

Now what?
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby doktor5000 » Aug 30th, '16, 22:58

You mean you logged in to sympa and tried to reply from there? I'm not sure this was ever enabled at all.
You don't have the original mail you sent to dev@ml.mageia.org anymore ?
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Aug 31st, '16, 09:33

doktor5000 wrote:You mean you logged in to sympa and tried to reply from there?

Yes.

I'm not sure this was ever enabled at all.

OK. I have only used the ml once or twice, and I have a vague memory of something unusual about how it was accessed, but I don't recall what...

You don't have the original mail you sent to dev@ml.mageia.org anymore ?

No, I have no email to that location in my sent folder. No idea why; it might have been deleted by mistake.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby doktor5000 » Aug 31st, '16, 23:10

Can you remember what day you sent it? - so I can have a look in my mail archives to see whether I can find it
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Sep 7th, '16, 23:15

doktor5000 wrote:Although that might be completely out of context that what you need it for, sorry no clue ...


Thanks for your help :-)

Jiml8 raised a concern on dev ml last year
https://ml.mageia.org/l/arc/dev/2015-01/msg00388.html

It amazed me that it had never seen a reply, so I bumped that message last month and tried to find more information.
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Sep 8th, '16, 22:14

doktor5000 wrote:Can you remember what day you sent it? - so I can have a look in my mail archives to see whether I can find it


Marja pulled up my post on that ml, and IIRC it was Jan 15 2015. I would have made that post immediately after joining that mailing list. I don't recall how I joined that mailing list...apparently I must have sent an email requesting membership but I don't recall the details at all.

I originally posted about the memory security issue here: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=8874&p=53967&hilit=STRICT_DEVMEM&sid=8337c3458a150cad50ca29a76fa492f4#p53967

and you directed me to the mailing list.

I also received an email yesterday Samuel Verschelde yesterday about this. Perhaps I should just join the ml again? But, I am receiving emails from that list so presumably I am still registered with it.

The simplest thing would be to tell me how I can post on it; I suppose I can respond to emails, but how would I originate a thread?
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby marja » Sep 8th, '16, 22:27

jiml8 wrote:The simplest thing would be to tell me how I can post on it; I suppose I can respond to emails, but how would I originate a thread?


I was going to answer, but see you already found out, your mail just arrived on that mailing list :-)
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Re: Kernel dev

Postby jiml8 » Sep 8th, '16, 22:44

I just decided that the obvious thing to try was to just send an email. So I did. :D
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