Re: Uses of Linux backports in the industry

[Felix Fietkau]

On 2015-05-29 04:54, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> Me and Julia are working on a paper which evaluates use of Coccinelle
> on backports, a preliminary draft of such paper can be found on github
> [0]. We are making some tweaks to this, one of which is covering the
> uses of Linux backports [1] in the industry, for this we'd like to try
> to get feedback as to where and how folks are using backports. Please
> let me and Julia know -- or if the information is not sensitive please
> feel free to just reply to this thread and share with others. All
> feedback is greatly appreciated. If you are OK in having us list or
> generalize your usage please indicate so.
In OpenWrt, we use backports to stay up to date with current wireless
drivers without being forced into frequently updating the kernels as
well. We support many different platforms, and sometimes it takes a
while to update the kernel on them.
Using backports significantly reduces the amount of effort that we need
to put into maintaining the wireless drivers.
When making changes to wireless drivers or mac80211, which I submit
upstream, I also develop them in our most recent backports snapshot
first (typically generated from wireless-testing). When they are done, I
port them to a proper git tree and submit them from there.

In OpenWrt, we typically update the backports snapshot outside of the
normal kernel release cycle (always to latest wireless-testing) and
stabilize that by cherry-picking individual patches on top of it.

- Felix
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