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.
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
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.