• A floppy driver in the debian installer kernel

    From jhcha54008@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 21 16:20:01 2020
    Hi Adrian and Michael,

    Indeed, it would be great to have a floppy driver at installation time. But it seems that the
    floppy-module udeb was removed. Would it be possible to ship it in the udeb kernel package instead,
    either built-in or as a module ?

    I wonder if one of the two following patches (against source package 'linux' - one patch would suffice !)
    would work. They are untested - but I hope it will help to find the correct solution nevertheless.

    Regards,
    JH Chatenet

    PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
    towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

    First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
    @@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
    ##
    ## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
    ##
    -CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
    +CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
    CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

    Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
    @@ -1 +1,2 @@
    #include <kernel-image>
    +floppy

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Paul Adrian Glaubitz@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 21 19:00:01 2020
    Hello!

    On 4/21/20 4:00 PM, jhcha54008 wrote:
    PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
    towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

    You're welcome. Although it's sometimes so frustrating that I'm considering
    to stop. But I can still keep myself motivated.

    First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
    @@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
    ##
    ## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
    ##
    -CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
    +CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
    CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

    Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
    @@ -1 +1,2 @@
    #include <kernel-image>
    +floppy

    I don't think it makes sense to add a floppy module when you compile floppy support into the kernel. If it's compiled in, the driver is always present.

    Adrian

    --
    .''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
    : :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
    `. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
    `- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From jhcha54008@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 21 20:40:02 2020
    Hi Adrian,
    Thank you for your answer.

    Sorry for my -not so clear- previous message.

    There is an alternative between these two patches : only one of the
    two may be merged. Indeed, a choice should be made :
    to have the floppy driver built-in (in all stock kernels
    or in the alpha-generic flavor only ?)
    or to ship the module in the udeb.

    I am sorry that I am not able to test (and certainly correct...) these
    two patches presently - but I just hope that it may help to find a
    solution.

    (actually I contemplated opening a bug report some months ago, but
    I never found the time to test)

    Regards,
    JH Chatenet

    Le mardi 21 avril à 18h 59mn 43s (+0200), John Paul Adrian Glaubitz a écrit :
    Hello!

    On 4/21/20 4:00 PM, jhcha54008 wrote:
    PS : it is the opportunity to thank you (and Samuel Thibault) for all your work on the alpha kernel and
    towards a working debian installer on alpha - and the other ports !

    You're welcome. Although it's sometimes so frustrating that I'm considering to stop. But I can still keep myself motivated.

    First patch : have the floppy driver built-in

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-15 04:35:16.000000000 +0200
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/config/alpha/config 2020-04-21 15:31:52.645845117 +0200
    @@ -120,7 +120,7 @@
    ##
    ## file: drivers/block/Kconfig
    ##
    -CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m
    +CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_UMEM=m
    CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SX8=m
    CONFIG_CDROM_PKTCDVD=m

    Second patch : ship the floppy module in the kernel udeb

    diff -Naur a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image
    --- a/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2018-12-29 20:49:45.000000000 +0100
    +++ b/linux-5.5.17/debian/installer/modules/alpha-generic/kernel-image 2020-04-21 15:36:55.527347025 +0200
    @@ -1 +1,2 @@
    #include <kernel-image>
    +floppy

    I don't think it makes sense to add a floppy module when you compile floppy support into the kernel. If it's compiled in, the driver is always present.

    Adrian

    --
    .''`. John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
    : :' : Debian Developer - glaubitz@debian.org
    `. `' Freie Universitaet Berlin - glaubitz@physik.fu-berlin.de
    `- GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546 0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)