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  • [RFC] Proposal for Adding a Dedicated Debug Kernel Package to Debian(fo

    From Yunseong Kim@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 9 20:10:01 2025
    Hi Debian Kernel Team,

    It was a pleasure speaking with Ben at DebConf25. I’m following up on our conversation regarding the idea of introducing a dedicated debug kernel package in the Debian.

    I believe having an easily selectable debug-enabled kernel would be a significant
    benefit for users, particularly during board bring-up or when troubleshooting kernel-related issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this might be a
    direction worth exploring.

    As a potential reference point, Fedora’s approach to debug kernel configuration
    could be quite helpful. Their debug-config is available in the Rawhide branch: Link: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/kernel/tree/rawhide

    I look forward to your feedback when you have a chance.

    Warm regards,
    Yunseong Kim

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  • From Bastian Blank@21:1/5 to Yunseong Kim on Fri Aug 1 23:40:01 2025
    Hi

    We talked about this in our last team meeting. We identified some
    questions and also some concerns.

    On Wed, Jul 09, 2025 at 07:43:35PM +0200, Yunseong Kim wrote:
    I believe having an easily selectable debug-enabled kernel would be a significant
    benefit for users, particularly during board bring-up or when troubleshooting kernel-related issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this might be a
    direction worth exploring.

    Yes, this might be useful for troubleshooting. I don't yet understand
    how it would be useful for board bring-up, I would assume this usually
    requires code changes.

    This would also mean we can overall disable many debug options in the
    normal kernel.

    As a potential reference point, Fedora’s approach to debug kernel configuration
    could be quite helpful. Their debug-config is available in the Rawhide branch:
    Link: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/kernel/tree/rawhide

    Sadly this does not look like it actually includes source. I sincerely
    doubt that they modify all those config files by hand this way. But you
    can deduct some things.

    Mainly they enable
    - many DEBUG options,
    - many DEBUGFS options,
    - some CONFIGFS options, and
    - some handpicked things.

    Fedora installs the debug kernel as it would any other. But somehow
    they manage to reduce the priority.

    Problems for Debian current are as follows:
    - We have size constraints on our software builders, so right now we
    just can't build it.
    - We can not make sure it is not used by default.

    Regards,
    Bastian

    --
    Vulcans never bluff.
    -- Spock, "The Doomsday Machine", stardate 4202.1

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  • From Yunseong Kim@21:1/5 to Bastian Blank on Sat Aug 2 00:50:01 2025
    Hi Bastian,

    Thank you for your detailed feedback and for discussing this proposal with the team.

    On 8/2/25 6:21 오전, Bastian Blank wrote:
    Hi

    We talked about this in our last team meeting. We identified some
    questions and also some concerns.

    On Wed, Jul 09, 2025 at 07:43:35PM +0200, Yunseong Kim wrote:
    I believe having an easily selectable debug-enabled kernel would be a significant
    benefit for users, particularly during board bring-up or when troubleshooting
    kernel-related issues. I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this might be a
    direction worth exploring.

    Yes, this might be useful for troubleshooting. I don't yet understand
    how it would be useful for board bring-up, I would assume this usually requires code changes.

    This would also mean we can overall disable many debug options in the
    normal kernel.

    I'd also like to reiterate one of the key motivations for this proposal. By moving debugging features to a separate package, we can disable them in the default kernel. This would lead to a significant throughput increase, potentially reducing operational costs for the many groups who deploy Debian's default kernel in their infrastructure. I believe this benefit makes the effort of overcoming the technical challenges worthwhile.

    As a potential reference point, Fedora’s approach to debug kernel configuration
    could be quite helpful. Their debug-config is available in the Rawhide branch:
    Link: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/kernel/tree/rawhide

    Sadly this does not look like it actually includes source. I sincerely
    doubt that they modify all those config files by hand this way. But you
    can deduct some things.

    Mainly they enable
    - many DEBUG options,
    - many DEBUGFS options,
    - some CONFIGFS options, and
    - some handpicked things.

    Fedora installs the debug kernel as it would any other. But somehow
    they manage to reduce the priority.

    Problems for Debian current are as follows:
    - We have size constraints on our software builders, so right now we
    just can't build it.
    - We can not make sure it is not used by default.

    I will research potential solutions for these and see how they
    might be addressed within the Debian Linux Kernel infrastructure.

    Regards,
    Bastian

    Thanks again for your input.

    Best regards,
    Yunseong Kim

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)