Ubuntu
linux package

  1. Bug #516777
  2. Comment #4

Comment 4 for bug 516777

Revision history for this message
Chase Douglas (chasedouglas) wrote :

Generally speaking, Ubuntu includes sources directly from upstream with individual fixes only where necessary for bugs that cause severe issues (such as kernel crashes). Exceptions are made from time to time, but this is the preferred flow of sources into Ubuntu for many reasons.

As such, the preferred route for the fix for your issue is to have the changes percolate up from the beta sources of the linux wacom project to the stable sources of the project to the mainline linux kernel. Once it reaches the mainline linux kernel we prefer to have the fixes come through the -stable series that are separately maintained for back versions of the kernel, which is usually what the Ubuntu development distribution is based on. Our Lucid kernels are based directly off of the -stable series, so changes there likely will be incorporated into our kernels automatically.

Unfortunately, that means a bit of waiting for end users of new hardware that does not work out of the box. There are a few options that can ease the situation though:

1. Build the updated modules personally
2. Create a dkms package to build the modules for you each time the kernel is updated (and potentially host the packages in a launchpad personal package archive for others to use)
3. Work to incorporate the newer modules into the Ubuntu linux-backports-modules package
4. Inclusion as an "ubuntu" driver in linux-image

Note that option 3 is fairly heavyweight and would necessitate extra work not only to develop the new modules within linux-backports-modules, but also to ensure all the process requirements are met. Option 4 is probably similar in amount of work.

Both options 3 and 4 would still likely require the source to at least become stable in the linux wacom project, and also be an issue for a large amount of end users to be considered.

As such, I am marking this bug as 'Won't Fix'. If the upstream sources become stable and you believe there are a reasonable amount of affected users to pursue options 3 or 4 you may reopen the bug.