Changes/Binary Kernel Modules rpm-ostree

New requirements for akmods binary kernel modules for Silverblue / Kinoite support

Summary

In order to improve the current support for akmods based binary kernel modules in Silverblue/Kinoite, this change introduces a new dependency in akmods to a meta package that strongly links the version of a kernel package with its -devel sub-package.

Owner

• Name: Timothée Ravier, Nicolas Chauvet, Tomáš Popela
• Email: siosm@fedoraproject.org, kwizart@fedoraproject.org, tpopela@fedoraproject.org

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 36
• Last updated: 2022-01-26
• devel thread
• FESCo issue: #2735
• Tracker bug: #2046331
• Release notes tracker: #795

Detailed Description

Silverblue & Kinoite currently include the kernel-devel and glibc-devel packages by default in the base image to work around dependency issues when using akmods based binary kernel modules such as the NVIDIA binary driver.

To be able to remove that dependency, a new meta-package has been added as kernel sub-package to strongly link a given kernel with its corresponding -devel sub-package that is needed for building those kernel modules with akmods.

With this change, custom kernel builds outside of the fedora repository will have to provide this new meta-package.

A longer explanation of how akmods based binary kernel modules are supported in Silverblue / Kinoite is available in https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/akmods/pull-request/3#comment-90939.

References:

• New kernel{,-debug}-devel-matched sub-packages: https://gitlab.com/cki-project/kernel-ark/-/merge_requests/1195
• Dependency change in akmods: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/akmods/pull-request/3
• Dependency removal in Silverblue/Kinoite: https://pagure.io/workstation-ostree-config/pull-request/214

Feedback

See individual PRs for existing discussions.

Benefit to Fedora

This change will noticeably reduce the size of the Silverblue / Kinoite base image and updates for users that do not use any binary kernel modules.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Code changes are ready. Merging is in progress.

• Other developers:
  • Custom kernel builds outside of the fedora repository will have to provide this new meta-package.

• Release engineering: N/A (not needed for this Change)
• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
• Alignment with Objectives: N/A

Upgrade/compatibility impact

This should not impact existing systems on updates. Users already using binary kernel modules will now have those dependencies automatically installed. Other users will have them removed.

How To Test

• Install an akmods based binary kernel module (NVIDIA driver from RPM Fusion for example) on Silverblue/Kinoite once the changes mentioned above are merged.
• This should work just like it does on F35.

User Experience

There should be no change in user experience.

Dependencies

N/A

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Revert to previous behavior
• Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
• Blocks release? No

Documentation

N/A (not a System Wide Change)