UDS Brussels: Prototype tool helps tracking kernel patches
Canonical's Steve Conklin presented the Patchtracker in the kernel roundtable during the first day of the international Ubuntu Developer Summit.
Steve Conklin, member of the kernel team at Canonical, wrote the patchtracker during the last couple of months, much of it in the last two weeks. The patchtracker is written in python running on the Django framework. It allows developers to locate all git branches in which a certain kernel patch found its way.
Kernel team member Steve Conklin (2nd from the right in the foreground, black T-Shirt) presents his new patch tracker in the kernel roundtable on Monday.
Conklin himself came up with the tool, because he was looking for a way to track various patches from upstream developers across different repositories. In this special case, he needed to keep his overview of the Intel graphics driver, which was to be applied both to Ubuntu Karmic Koala and Lucid Lynx. But even for other programmers this tool might be useful, because it can generally help identify the source of bugs.
"If the bluetooth module doesn't work in a distribution release but works in the latest mainline kernel," he explains, "The tool should quickly display the set of patches which are in upstream trees but not in a particular release. This is enabling one to see which small set of patches might contain the fix."
Conklin qualifies that this software (GPLv2 or later) is just a prototype that has proven the value of the concept. 'Soon I hope to have some improved configuration tools and examples, and a live web site demonstrating the tool', he adds. A website linking to the git source is already there.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.