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Branch and Tag Management for Kernel Releases

For each upstream release from Linus and the stable series, we maintain corresponding branches that include our local modifications. For instance, the v5.10.100 release has a matching branch named linux-5.10.100-mpi in our repository. These branches are auto-generated when a new upstream release is announced.

To compile a kernel using bee, we create a tag in this repository, such as mariux-5.10.110-433 for the linux-5.10.110-433.bee build.

Kernel configurations are stored in the config-mpi file within these branches, using the make savedefconfig format. Configurations evolve with kernel updates and may differ between releases. While automatic updates are mostly reliable, they are not infallible.

We may also intentionally alter configurations or apply custom patches. These changes might need to be applied across all relevant branches.

The Mariux64 default kernel configuration and code represent the definitive guide for our desired setup. Our modifications should be applied to the default kernel series and all subsequent series still maintained by upstream.

So, for example, at the time of this writing our default kernel is 5.15.131. According to kernel.org, the maintained series are

mainline	6.7	2024-01-07
stable	6.6.12	2024-01-15
longterm	6.1.73	2024-01-15
longterm	5.15.147	2024-01-15

For any code or configuration changes, we should target the linux-5.15.147-mpi, linux-6.1.73-mpi, linux-6.6.12-mpi, and linux-6.7-mpi branches when appropriate.

Some useful commands

List our branches:

git branch -a | grep -- -mpi

Show our commits:

git log --oneline --no-merges --no-decorate vVERSION..mariux64/linux-VERSION-mpi

Build a kernel

git checkout linux-VERSION-mpi
cp  config-mpi .config
make olddefconfig
make -j $(nrpoc)

Install and select it as a test kernel for the next reboot:

Once:

cat >>install.sh <<EOF
#! /bin/bash
make modules_install
cp ./arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage.test
mxgrub bzImage.test
EOF
chmod +x install.sh

Then:

sudo ./install.sh

Change the config

loop:

make menuconfig              # make your changes
make savedefconfig
diff config-mpi defconfig    # review your changes

when done:

cp defconfig config-mpi
git commit -v config-mpi

Create a new build tag for a bee file

git checkout linux-VERSION-mpi
git tag mariux-VERSION-BUILDNUMBER
git push mariux64 mariux-VERSION-BUILDNUMBER

Cherry-pick config changes from another mpi branch

git checkout linux-VERSION-mpi

For each commit:

git cherry-pick XXXXXXX        # if this fails, see below
cp config-mpi .config && make olddefconfig && make savedefconfig && diff config-mpi defconfig
cp defconfig config-mpi && git commit --amend config-mpi      # only if there were differences

If cherry-pick fails:

git restore -s HEAD config-mpi && cp config-mpi .config && make olddefconfig
make menuconfig               # do it manually
make savedefconfig && cp defconfig config-mpi && git add config-mpi && git cherry-pick --continue

When done:

git push mariux64

Fix "warning: inexact rename detection was skipped due to too many files."

git config merge.renamelimit 10000