Re: Migration to Debian Bookworm and compiler updates for KernelCI

+cip-dev for feedback on compiler usage for cip needs in KernelCI.

On Thursday, March 07, 2024 08:19 -03, Lukas Bulwahn <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 12:02 PM Denys Fedoryshchenko
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm reaching out on behalf of the KernelCI project team to discuss our
> > current compiler setup and planned migration to Debian Bookworm.
> >
> > As you may know, our compiler images are currently based on Debian
> > Bullseye, which is approaching its end of life in July 2024. We have
> > been testing using gcc-10, which has presented us with some recent
> > challenges, notably a significant bug that results in false positive
> > compilation errors (specifically, the -Werror memcpy issue in
> > security.c). This situation has prompted us to consider an urgent
> > migration to Debian Bookworm. Additionally, the migration is
> > necessitated by our requirement to upgrade to a newer Python version to
> > support KernelCI v2 development efforts.
> >
> > However, before we proceed, we have a couple of pending questions that
> > we hope to get clarity on:
> >
> > 1) We've noticed that the minimal available version of clang on
> > https://apt.llvm.org/bookworm/dists/ is 15, whereas our current minimal
> > requirement for the Linux kernel compilation is clang-13.0.1
> > (https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/next/process/changes.html). How
> > critical is it to continue providing compile tests for clang-13 (and
> > potentially clang-14)? This information would be vital for us in
> > planning our compiler support strategy moving forward.
> >
> > 2) We are also considering migrating to gcc-12 and would like to
> > inquire if the CIP (Civil Infrastructure Platform) could provide their
> > endorsement for this move. Should there be any reservations about
> > transitioning to gcc-12, we would greatly appreciate development
> > support in building gcc-10 for Bookworm. In the interim, we would like
> > to inquire if it's acceptable to continue using our current gcc-10
> > images based on Bullseye until such a migration is feasible.
> >
> > We believe that addressing these questions is crucial for our project's
> > progression and ensuring that we maintain a robust and reliable build
> > environment for the Linux kernel. We eagerly await your feedback and
> > any recommendations you may have regarding our migration plan and
> > compiler version support.
> >
> > Thank you for your time and consideration.
> >
> 
> 
> If you want to get feedback from the CIP project, it might be good to
> kick off the discussion on their public mailing list:
> 
> https://lists.cip-project.org/g/cip-dev
> 
> It seems a busy mailing list with a lot of automated email reports,
> but maybe you do get through to the real listeners.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Lukas
>