Bug#888202: stretch->buster: reminder that kernel should be >= 3.2 before upgrade

[Aurelien Jarno]

Package: release-notes
Severity: normal
Tags: buster sid

Starting with glibc 2.26, Linux kernel 3.2 or later is required. This
change only affects amd64 and i386 as it was already the case in Stretch
for other architectures. The libc6 preinst has a check and aborts the
installation if it is not the case to avoid completely breaking the
system. That said it will leave the upgrade unfinished.

Linux kernel 2.6.32 is popular, as it is the latest version supported by
OpenVZ. It therefore looks like a good idea to add an entry about that
in the release notes.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.14.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=fr_FR.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE= (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

tags -1 patch pending

Bug #888202 [release-notes] stretch->buster: reminder that kernel should be >= 3.2 before upgrade
Added tag(s) pending and patch.

[Baptiste Jammet]

Hi,

I have prepared the attached patch that I intend to commit if nobody
objects to the wording in a couple of days. It adds this description to
the issues list.

Don't hesitate to Cc debian-l10n-english if you need reviews.

PS: is it somehow possible to only add this to the i386 and amd64
release-notes?

Add arch="i386;amd64" in the <section> tag.

Baptiste

[Justin B Rye]

I have started to go through reports against the release-notes, to be
ready when we release.

That's good. I've done my own initial trial-run upgrade and found
absolutely nothing to report.

diff --git a/en/issues.dbk b/en/issues.dbk
index 20122d3e..706266bf 100644
--- a/en/issues.dbk
+++ b/en/issues.dbk
@@ -219,6 +219,20 @@ information mentioned in <xref linkend="morereading"/>.
</para>
</section>
+ <section id="glibc-and-linux" arch="i386;amd64">
+ <!-- stretch to buster-->
+ <title>glibc requires linux kernel 3.2 or higher</title>

That should definitely be "Linux" with a capital L; and at the start
of a title I'd also expect to see "Glibc".
<title>Glibc requires Linux kernel 3.2 or higher</title>

+ <para>
+ Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
+ kernel 3.2 or later is required. The <systemitem
+ role="package">libc6</systemitem> preinst has a check and aborts the
+ installation if it is not the case to avoid completely breaking the
+ system. That said it will leave the upgrade unfinished. Please update the
+ kernel before starting the system upgrade if the system still runs a
+ kernel before 3.2.

The wording could be better. I would suggest

Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
kernel 3.2 or later is required. The preinst for <systemitem
role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a check, and if this fails
then to avoid completely breaking the system it will abort the package
installation, which will leave the upgrade unfinished. If the system
is running a kernel older than 3.2, please update it before starting
the distribution upgrade.

[Justin B Rye]

Post by Justin B Rye
The wording could be better. I would suggest
Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
kernel 3.2 or later is required. The preinst for <systemitem
role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a check, and if this fails
then to avoid completely breaking the system it will abort the package
installation, which will leave the upgrade unfinished. If the system
is running a kernel older than 3.2, please update it before starting
the distribution upgrade.

I had to read the second sentence multiple times. I think it is too

You're right, that sentence is too long and complicated.

The preinst for <systemitem role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a
check, and if this fails then, to avoid completely breaking the system,
it will abort the package installation, which will leave the upgrade
unfinished.

That way of punctuating it makes it too easy to misunderstood "then"
as "at that time". We could avoid that by adding another comma before

or
To avoid completely breaking the system, the preinst for <systemitem
role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a check. If this fails, it
will abort the package installation, which will leave the upgrade
unfinished.

So the full paragraph would be something like:

Starting with <systemitem role="source">glibc</systemitem> 2.26, Linux
kernel 3.2 or later is required. To avoid completely breaking the system,
the preinst for <systemitem role="package">libc6</systemitem> performs a
check. If this fails, it will abort the package installation, which will
leave the upgrade unfinished. If the system is running a kernel older
than 3.2, please update it before starting the distribution upgrade.

[Debian Bug Tracking System]

Your message dated Wed, 20 Feb 2019 21:46:53 +0100
with message-id <92d0b700-2535-42fa-f7d3-***@debian.org>
and subject line Re: Bug#888202: stretch->buster: reminder that kernel should be >= 3.2 before upgrade
has caused the Debian Bug report #888202,
regarding stretch->buster: reminder that kernel should be >= 3.2 before upgrade
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

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