Re: musl thoughts

[Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>]

On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 03:20:19PM -0700, Khem Raj wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 1:03 PM Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 02:11:35AM +0100, Andreas Müller wrote:
> > >...
> > > 3. Change our musl slightly: Many patches we currently have are
> > > trivial. Missing headers or #defines for missing functions... So if we
> > > add few headers
> > >   * Empty chunks for e.g <net/ethernet.h>
> > >...
> > > Some other ideas?
> >
> > Not upstreamable hacks aren't a long-term sustainable way,
> > no matter where you do the patching.
> >
> > net/ethernet.h header problems are requiring 2 patches in NM.
> >
> > It would be good to get whatever is the actual root cause fixed properly,
> > and that fix upstreamed.
> >
> > E.g. I wonder whether this was supposed to be fixed by
> > 0001-if_ether-move-muslc-ethhdr-protection-to-uapi-file.patch
> >
> > Or is this patch in linux-libc-headers even the cause of the problem?
> >
> > linux-libc-headers applying 6 patches just for musl is not a good sign
> > in any case.
> > Is that much patching also done by other distributions that use musl?
> > Why are these patches Upstream-Status: Pending/Submitted for a  long
> > time without having been applied upstream?
> >
> > Long-term it would be less work if everything would get fixed properly
> > with fixes reviewed and applied by upstream.
> 
> agreed, meanwhile we have to also ensure that musl users keep going and make it
> possible, if OE devs are fixing musl related issues in upstream
> packages then it is also good reputation for the project.
>...

Some of the NM patches are obviously just quick hacks to workaround bugs 
that are elsewhere. Trying to push such stuff upstream would not exactly
improve the reputation.

A problem with a "keep going" approach is that you might end up spending 
much work on working around symptoms, or even working around OE-specific 
bugs without noticing that they are OE-specific.

Building an image (with things like NM included) for musl builds for me, 
and it also builds for me with all 6 musl patches not applied to the 
kernel headers.

Are these patches still required at all?
Could they be the cause of other musl related issues in OE?

Patching leaf packages can create a huge mess if the core packages are 
not in a good state.

cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed