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.. SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0+ OR CC-BY-4.0)
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- ..
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- If you want to distribute this text under CC-BY-4.0 only, please use 'The
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- Linux kernel developers' for author attribution and link this as source:
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- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
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- ..
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- Note: Only the content of this RST file as found in the Linux kernel sources
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- is available under CC-BY-4.0, as versions of this text that were processed
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- (for example by the kernel's build system) might contain content taken from
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- files which use a more restrictive license.
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-
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+ .. See the bottom of this file for additional redistribution information.
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Reporting issues
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@@ -395,22 +386,16 @@ fixed as soon as possible, hence there are 'issues of high priority' that get
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handled slightly differently in the reporting process. Three type of cases
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qualify: regressions, security issues, and really severe problems.
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- You deal with a 'regression' if something that worked with an older version of
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- the Linux kernel does not work with a newer one or somehow works worse with it.
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- It thus is a regression when a WiFi driver that did a fine job with Linux 5.7
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- somehow misbehaves with 5.8 or doesn't work at all. It's also a regression if
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- an application shows erratic behavior with a newer kernel, which might happen
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- due to incompatible changes in the interface between the kernel and the
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- userland (like procfs and sysfs). Significantly reduced performance or
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- increased power consumption also qualify as regression. But keep in mind: the
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- new kernel needs to be built with a configuration that is similar to the one
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- from the old kernel (see below how to achieve that). That's because the kernel
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- developers sometimes can not avoid incompatibilities when implementing new
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- features; but to avoid regressions such features have to be enabled explicitly
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- during build time configuration.
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+ You deal with a regression if some application or practical use case running
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+ fine with one Linux kernel works worse or not at all with a newer version
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+ compiled using a similar configuration. The document
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+ Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst explains this in more
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+ detail. It also provides a good deal of other information about regressions you
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+ might want to be aware of; it for example explains how to add your issue to the
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+ list of tracked regressions, to ensure it won't fall through the cracks.
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What qualifies as security issue is left to your judgment. Consider reading
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- ' Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst' before proceeding, as it
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+ Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst before proceeding, as it
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provides additional details how to best handle security issues.
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An issue is a 'really severe problem' when something totally unacceptably bad
@@ -517,7 +502,7 @@ line starting with 'CPU:'. It should end with 'Not tainted' if the kernel was
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not tainted when it noticed the problem; it was tainted if you see 'Tainted:'
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followed by a few spaces and some letters.
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- If your kernel is tainted, study ' Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst'
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+ If your kernel is tainted, study Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst
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to find out why. Try to eliminate the reason. Often it's caused by one these
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three things:
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@@ -1043,7 +1028,7 @@ down the culprit, as maintainers often won't have the time or setup at hand to
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reproduce it themselves.
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To find the change there is a process called 'bisection' which the document
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- ' Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst' describes in detail. That process
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+ Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst describes in detail. That process
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will often require you to build about ten to twenty kernel images, trying to
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reproduce the issue with each of them before building the next. Yes, that takes
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some time, but don't worry, it works a lot quicker than most people assume.
@@ -1073,10 +1058,11 @@ When dealing with regressions make sure the issue you face is really caused by
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the kernel and not by something else, as outlined above already.
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In the whole process keep in mind: an issue only qualifies as regression if the
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- older and the newer kernel got built with a similar configuration. The best way
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- to archive this: copy the configuration file (``.config ``) from the old working
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- kernel freshly to each newer kernel version you try. Afterwards run ``make
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- olddefconfig `` to adjust it for the needs of the new version.
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+ older and the newer kernel got built with a similar configuration. This can be
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+ achieved by using ``make olddefconfig ``, as explained in more detail by
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+ Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst; that document also
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+ provides a good deal of other information about regressions you might want to be
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+ aware of.
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Write and send the report
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the report's text to these addresses; but on top of it put a small note where
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you mention that you filed it with a link to the ticket.
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- See ' Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst' for more information.
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+ See Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst for more information.
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Duties after the report went out
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pinpoint the exact change that causes the issue (which then can easily get
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reverted to fix the issue quickly). Hence consider to do a proper bisection
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right away if time permits. See the section 'Special care for regressions' and
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- the document ' Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst' for details how to
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+ the document Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst for details how to
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perform one. In case of a successful bisection add the author of the culprit to
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the recipients; also CC everyone in the signed-off-by chain, which you find at
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the end of its commit message.
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Even small and seemingly obvious code-changes sometimes introduce new and
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totally unexpected problems. The maintainers of the stable and longterm kernels
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are very aware of that and thus only apply changes to these kernels that are
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- within rules outlined in ' Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst' .
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+ within rules outlined in Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst.
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Complex or risky changes for example do not qualify and thus only get applied
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to mainline. Other fixes are easy to get backported to the newest stable and
@@ -1756,10 +1742,23 @@ art will lay some groundwork to improve the situation over time.
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..
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- This text is maintained by Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>. If you
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- spot a typo or small mistake, feel free to let him know directly and he'll
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- fix it. You are free to do the same in a mostly informal way if you want
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- to contribute changes to the text, but for copyright reasons please CC
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+ end-of-content
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+ ..
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+ This document is maintained by Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>. If
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+ you spot a typo or small mistake, feel free to let him know directly and
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+ he'll fix it. You are free to do the same in a mostly informal way if you
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+ want to contribute changes to the text, but for copyright reasons please CC
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linux-doc@vger.kernel.org and "sign-off" your contribution as
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Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst outlines in the section "Sign
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your work - the Developer's Certificate of Origin".
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+ ..
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+ This text is available under GPL-2.0+ or CC-BY-4.0, as stated at the top
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+ of the file. If you want to distribute this text under CC-BY-4.0 only,
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+ please use "The Linux kernel developers" for author attribution and link
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+ this as source:
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+ https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
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+ ..
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+ Note: Only the content of this RST file as found in the Linux kernel sources
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+ is available under CC-BY-4.0, as versions of this text that were processed
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+ (for example by the kernel's build system) might contain content taken from
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+ files which use a more restrictive license.
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