Bug#1141964: ITP: libkrunfw -- Dynamic library bundling the guest payload consumed by libkrun

Ben Westover <[email protected]> Sun, 12 Jul 2026 17:08:27 -0400

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.general
Message-ID	<45606e22-9046-4d66-8aac-fd8dbcfc1841__21435.3236997098$1783890701$gmane$org@debian.org>

Package: wnpp
X-Debbugs-Cc: [email protected]
Owner: Ben Westover <[email protected]>
Severity: wishlist

* Package name    : libkrunfw
   Version         : 5.5.0
   Upstream Contact: Sergio Lopez <[email protected]>
* URL             : https://github.com/libkrun/libkrunfw
* License         : LGPL-2.1
   Programming Lang: C
   Description     : Library bundling guest payload consumed by libkrun

libkrunfw is a library bundling a Linux kernel in a dynamic library in a 
way that can be easily consumed by libkrun.

By having the kernel bundled in a dynamic library, libkrun can leave to 
the linker the work of mapping the sections into the process, and then 
directly inject those mappings into the guest without any kind of 
additional work nor processing.

I am packaging this because it is a dependency of libkrun. Because it's 
an encapsulation of a Linux kernel, there will be a kernel tarball in 
the package source. I cannot just depend on linux-source, because this 
library builds against a very specific kernel version and patchset.

This is the upstream explanation of the licensing situation it causes:

 > This library bundles a Linux kernel but does not execute any code from
 > it, acting as a mere storage format. As a consequence, this library
 > does not constitute a derivative work of the Linux kernel.
 > Thus, the following licenses apply:
 > * Linux kernel: GPL-2.0-only
 > * Files contained in the patches directory: GPL-2.0-only
 > * Library code, including automatically-generated code: LGPL-2.1-only
 > Therefore, distributions of this library in binary form are required
 > to be accompanied by the source code of the Linux kernel bundled in
 > the binary along with the code of the library itself, but other
 > programs linking against this library are not required to be licensed
 > under the GPL-2.0-only nor the LGPL-2.1-only licenses.

I do not plan to maintain this in a team unless one expresses interest.

Regards
--
Ben Westover

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