[ofa-general] upstream stable merge request for OFED 1.4

[Jack Morgenstein]

On Tuesday 07 July 2009 15:31, Lars Ellenberg wrote:
> but I was wondering about the status of the
> git://git.openfabrics.org/ofed_1_4/linux-2.6.git tree,
> whether that is supposed to be the "most uptodate official ofed_1_4"
> kernel, and whether or not it is going to be updated to either track
> some stable series, or linux-2.6 master.
> 
OFED users install the OFED package on top of an existing kernel (thus the
need for backports).  By install, I mean that the OFED "*.ko" modules are
installed under /lib/modules/<host kernel>/updates -- which supersede the modules
under /lib/modules/<host kernel>/kernel.  These modules residing in updates are
built entirely from code in the OFED source tree (which will also use header files
from the kernel resident on the host).

The only thing needed from the kernel on the host system is the API/prototypes, which I
understand do not change in the stable series of a given kernel.  There is no reason,
therefore, to deal with merges to the most recent stable version of a given kernel.

Furthermore, bug fixes to modules in a released OFED are put in as patches in the
kernel_patches/fixes directory, and if there is demand for it another version
of OFED is released with those fixes (e.g., OFED 1.4.1, for OFED 1.4).
(For users who need fixes immediately, they can take the OFED daily build, which
will incorporate any new patches in the kernel_patches/fixes directory. These patches
are applied as part of the OFED installation process).

OFED 1.4 will remain at kernel 2.6.27.  OFED 1.5 is currently under development,
and is based upon kernel 2.6.30.

-Jack