Linux Kernel (megi patches for PinePhone Pro)

Linux Kernel (megi patches for PinePhone Pro)

[Tanvir Roshid]

Hi,

I hope you are well.

I wanted to post this message to discuss the megous kernel and 
communicate with the embedded Linux community. This post is my first 
attempt at using the Linux mailing list, so forgive me if I make any 
mistakes.

For context, the megous kernel is a fork of the Torvald kernel 
containing patches to enable the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro to boot 
correctly.

The megous kernel disappeared earlier this year. We have spent the 
better part of the year getting the phones to boot with the upstream 
kernel for GNOME OS. We successfully confirmed working boards using 
patches found on this repo:
- 
https://gitlab.com/pine64-org/linux/-/tree/linux-pinephonepro-6.6.y?ref_type=heads

The work is visible here:
- https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-build-meta/-/merge_requests/2455

I am aware that a new fork replacing the megous kernel exists here:
- https://github.com/sailfish-on-dontbeevil/kernel-megi

The GNOME community would prefer not to rely on a custom kernel and use 
the upstream version to avoid a repeat of the megous kernel and its 
disappearance. Recently, the patches have understandably failed to apply 
to the new kernel. We would prefer not to upstream these patches for 
long-term maintainability versus continuous maintenance.

My question to the embedded community is:
- What is preventing the upstream kernel from integrating these patches?

 From research (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30015412), I can 
see that these patches present problems. However, we would like to know 
more specifics to eventually upstream these patches via additional work.

Kind regards,
Tanvir Roshid

Re: Linux Kernel (megi patches for PinePhone Pro)

[Tanvir Roshid]

On 12/03/2024 16:30, Tanvir Roshid wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I hope you are well.
>
> I wanted to post this message to discuss the megous kernel and 
> communicate with the embedded Linux community. This post is my first 
> attempt at using the Linux mailing list, so forgive me if I make any 
> mistakes.
>
> For context, the megous kernel is a fork of the Torvald kernel 
> containing patches to enable the PinePhone and PinePhone Pro to boot 
> correctly.
>
> The megous kernel disappeared earlier this year. We have spent the 
> better part of the year getting the phones to boot with the upstream 
> kernel for GNOME OS. We successfully confirmed working boards using 
> patches found on this repo:
> - 
> https://gitlab.com/pine64-org/linux/-/tree/linux-pinephonepro-6.6.y?ref_type=heads
>
> The work is visible here:
> - https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-build-meta/-/merge_requests/2455
>
> I am aware that a new fork replacing the megous kernel exists here:
> - https://github.com/sailfish-on-dontbeevil/kernel-megi
>
> The GNOME community would prefer not to rely on a custom kernel and 
> use the upstream version to avoid a repeat of the megous kernel and 
> its disappearance. Recently, the patches have understandably failed to 
> apply to the new kernel. We would prefer not to upstream these patches 
> for long-term maintainability versus continuous maintenance.
Apologies; my sentence was not clear here. I mean to state "We would 
prefer to upstream these patches for long-term maintainability versus 
continuous maintenance. "
>
> My question to the embedded community is:
> - What is preventing the upstream kernel from integrating these patches?
>
> From research (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30015412), I can 
> see that these patches present problems. However, we would like to 
> know more specifics to eventually upstream these patches via 
> additional work.
>
> Kind regards,
> Tanvir Roshid
>
>