[Question] diff between debian kernel and stable kernel

[Masahiro Yamada]

Hello, Debian kernel team,

I have a question about the code diff
between the orig.tar.xz and the upstream
stable kernel.




[1] orig.tar.xz of the debian kernel

$ apt source linux

As of writing, I get

linux_5.10.28.orig.tar.xz


[2] stable kernel from kernel.org

I can download the same version of
the stable kernel from kernel.org, like this:

$ wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.10.28.tar.xz




I just expected [1] and [2] would be the same,
but actually some files are missing in the
debian one.


I extracted [1] and [2], and compared the contents.


$ diff -r -u deb/linux-5.10.28/ korg/linux-5.10.28/
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/arch/powerpc/platforms/8xx: micropatch.c
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/Documentation/netlabel:
draft-ietf-cipso-ipsecurity-01.txt
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/media/i2c: vs6624.c
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb: af9005-script.h
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops.c
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops_ffdrv.h
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops.h
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops_ltdrv.h
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/video/fbdev: nvidia
Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/video/fbdev: riva


I guess there are some reasons why those files were deleted from the
debian kernel.

What is the story behind this?


--
Best Regards
Masahiro Yamada

[Ben Hutchings]

On Mon, 2021-04-19 at 04:06 +0900, Masahiro Yamada wrote:
> Hello, Debian kernel team,
>
> I have a question about the code diff
> between the orig.tar.xz and the upstream
> stable kernel.

[...]

> I extracted [1] and [2], and compared the contents.
>
>
> $ diff -r -u  deb/linux-5.10.28/  korg/linux-5.10.28/
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/arch/powerpc/platforms/8xx: micropatch.c
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/Documentation/netlabel:
> draft-ietf-cipso-ipsecurity-01.txt
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/media/i2c: vs6624.c
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb: af9005-script.h
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops.c
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops_ffdrv.h
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops.h
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/net/appletalk: cops_ltdrv.h
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/video/fbdev: nvidia
> Only in korg/linux-5.10.28/drivers/video/fbdev: riva
>
>
> I guess there are some reasons why those files were deleted from the
> debian kernel.
>
> What is the story behind this?

The IETF draft for CIPSO is under a non-free license. The nvidia and
riva drivers contain obfuscated source code. The other files contain
executable code as static data, without any source for it. So they
don't comply with DFSG.

Ben.

--
Ben Hutchings
Humour is the best antidote to reality.

[Masahiro Yamada]

Thank you for explaining this!