On Thu, 03 Dec 2020 23:09:26 +0100, Vinzenz Vietzke wrote:
Hi all,
hopefully this is the right list for my question. Otherwise I'd appreciate a pointing in the right direction.
We (TUXEDO Computers) are selling laptops and PCs with openSUSE Leap preinstalled. One problem we run into quite often is the relatively old kernel version of Leap. E.g. for our lines of AMD Renoir laptops we would need at least 5.6.x upwards to get everything running.
In the past we "fixed" that by manually adding kernels from Kernel:stable which neither is a clean solution nor convenient for technically unexperienced users like many of our customers.
Ubuntu has their so called "Hardware Enablement" updates via point releases which delivers newer Kernels, Mesa etc. In addition to that they maintain an so called OEM Kernel, which currently is at 5.6.x. Both things are really helpful for our purposes.
So my question is: Is there something similar available for openSUSE? Maybe an intermedia kernel for Leap?
As Michal already applied, SLE15-SP3 / openSUSE Leap 15.3 kernel will cover those new hardware. But it'll be shipped months later, and the kernel ABI isn't frozen, so it's still a kind of moving target for now. That brings rather the question of your schedule. And, as Torsten suggested, integrating a proper OBS repo is the right thing for assuring the updates. So those replies from my colleagues are already some expected answers. But, OTOH, I know some outstanding (and long-standing) issues, and I guess you suffering from some of them, too: namely, 1. The Kernel:stable occasionally misses Nvidia and other KMP updates, especially at the kernel version jump from 5.x to 5.(x+1). 2. There are occasionally functional regressions at the kernel version jump. 3. It's not always trivial to get a KMP that is built for Kernel:stable. 4. Kernel:stable is no officially signed, and it can be a problem for secure boot. Basically 1 and 2 are about the upstream support and QA. The lag until KMP builds catch up may take a few weeks after the 5.x.0 is released, and the regression fixes may take a couple of stable kernel releases. (Sometimes longer, as we're seeing now for i915 graphics on 5.9.x kernels.) For addressing those, one idea would be to create a dedicated OBS project that offers the kernel for Tuxedo. It's a link from Kernel:stable but pinned to a certain revision. And you'll update the link only after confirming that everything works with the latest Kernel:stable. Also, for 3, you can create liked packages in this project to provide the KMPs for your kernel. That said, this OBS project will provide the snapshot of the package collections as the verified add-on for Tuxedo. The 4 is relevant only if the secure boot is in question. If so, the solution implies that you need either to allow the OBS project cert explicitly on Tuxedo image / deployment, or to do some re-signing work of the kernel package separately outside the OBS. Takashi