[needs-packaging] User-mode-linux package missing in Ubuntu

[AsciiWolf]

The user-mode-linux package is missing in Ubuntu since Xenial. The user-mode-linux-doc package is there, but not the user-mode-linux base package.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=user-mode-linux&searchon=names&suite=xenial&section=all

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=user-mode-linux&searchon=names&suite=yakkety&section=all

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

See https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/user-mode-linux/+publishinghistory

Deleted on 2016-02-04 by Steve Langasek

(From Debian) RoQA; RC-buggy, low popcon, unmaintained; https://bugs.debian.org/812501

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

https://packages.debian.org/sid/user-mode-linux
The user-mode-linux package was updated in Debian.

[AsciiWolf (asciiwolf)]

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?keywords=user-mode-linux&searchon=names&suite=zesty&section=all

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

*** This is an automated message ***

This bug is tagged needs-packaging which identifies it as a request for a new package in Ubuntu. As a part of the managing needs-packaging bug reports specification, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Specs/NeedsPackagingBugs, all needs-packaging bug reports have Wishlist importance. Subsequently, I'm setting this bug's status to Wishlist.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Won't this always have the issue to stay properly in sync with the kernel?
Yes it is now updated in Debian rather regularly again which is why it passed [1].
But I don't seen anyone strongly using/adopting it atm, so we might make it a sync but with next to no guarantees.

Since Steve was doing the remove and for his collection of important responsibilities&experience I'd think that he could much better do the decision to bring it back in or keep it out, subscribing him for that.

[1]: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/pkgs.html#reintroducing-pkgs

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

This package is already in bionic-proposed, it was synced back into Ubuntu in the zesty cycle at the beginning of this year and has never been buildable because it has an unsatisfied build dependency on 'linux-source-4.13' which does not exist in Ubuntu.

If someone wants this package in Ubuntu, they will need to do the work to make it buildable.

Unsubscribing myself.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Sebastian Unger (sebunger44)]

It seems it never made it from bionic-proposed to bionic?

[Steven Hay (stevenhay)]

Is this a difficult issue to fix? Debian has this package.

https://packages.ubuntu.com/jammy/linux-source <-- this package exists in Ubuntu

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi,
This isn't the problem @Steven

Ubuntu has that as well

$ rma linux-source
linux-source | 3.16+63+deb8u2 | oldoldoldstable | all
linux-source | 4.9+80+deb9u11 | oldoldstable | all
linux-source | 4.19+105+deb10u4~bpo9+1 | stretch-backports | all
linux-source | 4.19+105+deb10u16 | oldstable | all
linux-source | 5.10.140-1 | stable | all
linux-source | 6.0.8-1 | testing | all
linux-source | 6.0.8-1 | unstable | all
linux-source | 6.1~rc5-1~exp1 | experimental | all

 linux-source | 3.13.0.170.181 | trusty-updates | all
 linux-source | 4.4.0.210.216 | xenial-updates | all
 linux-source | 4.15.0.197.182 | bionic-updates | all
 linux-source | 5.4.0.132.132 | focal-updates | all
 linux-source | 5.15.0.53.53 | jammy-updates | all
 linux-source | 5.19.0.23.22 | kinetic-updates | all
 linux-source | 5.19.0.23.22 | lunar-proposed | all

You can see that package you referred to is in Ubuntu and Debian all the time (updated along the kernel).

The problem is not the inavailability of this package.
It is that it expected upstream-source (instead of distro specific) and due to that and more the user-mode-linux package no more built correctly. And no one ever found the need and time to go into the details to fix it.

That failed for a while and never got resolved. Which led to this commit which ensures it isn't even tried:
https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-archive/+junk/sync-blacklist/revision/693

To fix this one would need to step up, get it buildable in Ubuntu and commit to care for it for the future (a lack of maintenance was the problem to remove it, so one would not want to see a one-off try).

And for that the current version coupling is a bit too strong (but understandable due to the nature of the code). It is tightly coupled with the kernel version. So just like in the past where it depended on linux-source-4.13 the current user-mode-linux 6.... depends on linux-source-6.0 which we do not have, we will have it and other versions but it rarely lines up well and therefore almost always fail to build in Ubuntu.
Unless there is an active maintenance tracking the Ubuntu kernel versions instead.

This isn't different from the state it was in in comment #6 / #7 between me and Steve.