Feature #11818

Upgrade Linux to 4.7+

Added by intrigeri 2016-09-21 02:08:48 . Updated 2016-12-01 12:40:47 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Elevated
Assignee:
Category:
Hardware support
Target version:
Tails_2.7
Start date:
2016-09-21
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
feature/11818-linux-4.7
Type of work:
Code
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

During the Tails 2.6 release process we had to do some hacks to keep building with Linux 4.6, in part due to boot from USB issues with Linux 4.7. That’s fine for Tails 2.6 and 2.7, but Linux 4.6 will go away from jessie-backports soonish, and our devel branch will stop building at some point, so we need to adjust our stuff to be able to build (and boot!) with 4.7+.

Subtasks

History

#1 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-21 02:09:01

  • Category set to Hardware support

#2 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-21 02:12:31

  • Feature Branch set to feature/11818-linux-4.7

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-23 01:13:26

intrigeri wrote:
> […] but Linux 4.6 will go away from jessie-backports soonish, and our devel branch will stop building at some point, […]

We’ve reached that point.

#4 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-25 06:45:10

Regarding the issue with mounting the system partition when booting off USB: one sees the FAT-fs (sda1): IO charset ascii not found message, followed by mount: mounting /dev/sda1 on /live/medium/ failed: Invalid argument; and indeed nls_ascii is not in the initramfs; but even specifying another IO charset whose module is in the initramfs (-o codepage=utf8 or -o codepage=cp437), mount fails with the second error message. I could successfully cat /dev/sda1 > /dev/null, and blkid returns sensible results, so at least nothing is terribly wrong in the low-level USB support. The vfat module is loaded. I’ll try building an ISO that has nls_ascii in the initramfs.

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-25 07:14:44

Note that it would make very much sense that the problem comes from a vfat-specific thing, as it happens only when booting from a USB stick installed with Tails Installer: https://jenkins.tails.boum.org/view/Tails_ISO/job/test_Tails_ISO_feature-11818-linux-4.7/4/cucumberTestReport/installing-tails-to-a-usb-drive/cat_ing-a-tails-isohybrid-to-a-usb-drive-and-booting-it,-then-trying-to-upgrading-it-but-ending-up-having-to-do-a-fresh-installation,-which-boots/ shows that booting from a USB stick installed using cat works just fine.

#6 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-25 07:39:16

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress
  • % Done changed from 0 to 10

intrigeri wrote:
> I’ll try building an ISO that has nls_ascii in the initramfs.

This fixes the USB boot problem :) Let’s see what Jenkins thinks of the updated branch.

#7 Updated by intrigeri 2016-09-25 11:49:25

  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to anonym
  • % Done changed from 10 to 50
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA

Last run of the test suite on Jenkins was successful. Please review’n’merge ASAP so that building branches based on devel (and building devel itself) is repaired.

#8 Updated by anonym 2016-09-27 13:41:54

  • Status changed from In Progress to Fix committed
  • Assignee deleted (anonym)
  • % Done changed from 50 to 100
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass

intrigeri wrote:
> Last run of the test suite on Jenkins was successful. Please review’n’merge ASAP so that building branches based on devel (and building devel itself) is repaired.

Seems like I’m merging my own code, mostly — of course it passes my review! :)

Seriously speaking, it indeed works well. Thanks for picking this up and fixing it!

#9 Updated by anonym 2016-11-30 13:37:30

  • Target version changed from Tails_2.9.1 to Tails_2.7

This was fixed in Tails 2.7.

#10 Updated by intrigeri 2016-12-01 12:40:47

  • Status changed from Fix committed to Resolved