[OpenWrt-Devel] v5.4 as next kernel

[Hauke Mehrtens]

On 10/30/19 5:29 PM, Adrian Schmutzler wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: openwrt-devel [mailto:openwrt-devel-bounces at lists.openwrt.org] On Behalf Of Hauke Mehrtens
>> Sent: Mittwoch, 30. Oktober 2019 16:54
>> To: John Crispin <john at phrozen.org>; OpenWrt Development List <openwrt-devel at lists.openwrt.org>
>> Subject: Re: [OpenWrt-Devel] v5.4 as next kernel
>>
>> On 10/29/19 6:37 AM, John Crispin wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> should we use v5.4 as our next kernel ?
>>>     John
>>
>> I also agree to have kernel 5.4 as the next kernel, it will be finally
>> released in about 1 months and it is a long term kernel. If we are lucky
>> it will be supported for 6 years for Android.
>>
>> What do we want to use in the next 20.X release after 19.07?
>> If we want to go with kernel 5.4 with the release after 19.07 we can not
>> make this release before April, I would assume. We would have generic
>> support in OpenWrt master in about 1 month and then we will port the
>> targets, probably we will have the most important targets ported about
>> 2 months later (Mid January 2020) and can stabilize and port the rest of
>> afterwards.
>>
>> hauke
> 
> 1. We currently have work-in-progress 4.19 support PRs for ramips, ipq806x and bcm63xx, still with considerable work to do at least for the first two (IIRC). Without in-depth knowledge, I wonder whether it wouldn't be more efficient to skip 4.19 for those and go directly to 5.4 (less backporting etc., but also more adjustments of local stuff).
> 2. Obviously, starting with 5.4 now will cause a mixed-kernel-release-or-not debate in early 2020. So, when moving to 5.4 we should already ask ourselves this question early in the process. (Which obviously also depends on the decision on subject 1.) I personally favor to not have a mixed kernel release, but as I'm commenting from the side my voice shouldn't count much in that process.
> 3. Since stable branches are typically made 3-6 months after when they have been set, I wouldn't care too much about a 3 month delay in estimated release date. :-)
> 
> Just wanted to add those thoughts to the discussion, sorry for not providing answers ;-)
> 
> Best
> 
> Adrian
> 

Supporting two different kernel versions in one release was not a good
idea, we did it because the release was delayed and we decided to use
kernel 4.14 partially for this release pretty late in the process.

We should decide if we want to use kernel 5.4 in the next release in the
next 2 to 4 weeks, so we do not lose so much time.

I would suggest the following.
1. Sift the 20.X release after 19.07 from January to April 2020
1.1. We will not get kernel 5.4 stable till January
2. Integrate support for kernel 5.4 soon
2.1. The generic support with the first targets should be there in about
1.5 months, which should be doable
3. Migrate all the targets to kernel 5.4
3.1. Probably all the targets on kernel 4.19 will be migrated quickly,
the not so well supported targets could cause problems, but we have
similar problems with kernel 4.19.
4. When no target is using kernel 4.19 any more, drop support for it
4.1. dropping support for kernel 4.19 could cause problems for some
downstream users which would like to use kernel 4.19 (e.g. Intel in
prpl), I do not know if we care.

Hauke

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 488 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/attachments/20191030/2ba62fdc/attachment.sig>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
openwrt-devel mailing list
openwrt-devel at lists.openwrt.org
https://lists.openwrt.org/mailman/listinfo/openwrt-devel