ndiswrapper 1.60-8ubuntu2 fails to build on Focal with linux-hwe-5.8

[Kleber Sacilotto de Souza]

[SRU Justification]

Impact: ndiswrapper-dkms modules fail to build on Focal with the linux-hwe-5.8 kernel. (see attached make.log for details).

Fix: ndiswrapper has been deprecated on Groovy and this package is not shipped anymore. This is a very old project and we don't expect the owners of modern hardware running the 5.8 kernels to ever need to load any NDIS Windows drivers in order to make their network adapter to work. Therefore, it's not worth the effort to maintain the dkms modules on Focal for the HWE kernels. In this case, the fix is to add a 'BUILD_EXCLUSIVE_KERNEL' directive to the dkms config file to build the modules only on pre-5.4 (and including) kernels.

Testcase: install the ndiswrapper-dkms package on Focal with both linux-generic 5.4 and linux-hwe-5.8. With 5.4 the modules are still built and installed, with linux-hwe-5.8 the module is not built but the package installation is still successful:

Building initial module for 5.8.0-25-generic
Error! The /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/5.8.0-25-generic/x86_64/dkms.conf for module ndiswrapper includes a BUILD_EXCLUSIVE directive which
does not match this kernel/arch. This indicates that it should not be built.
Skipped.
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
I: Package ndiswrapper-dkms excluded by BUILD_EXCLUSIVE directive, skipping
autopkgtest: DBG: testbed command exited with code 0

Regression potential: the regression potential for 5.4 kernel users is low, it would happen only if the regex is wrong in a way that would prevent the modules to be built. For users that have linux-*-hwe-20.04 currently installed, which is still a 5.4 kernel, the ndiswrapper module will stop working once the meta package switches to the 5.8 and newer kernels, however this is expected as stated under the 'Fix' section.

-----
Testing failed on:
    amd64: https://objectstorage.prodstack4-5.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_77e2ada1e7a84929a74ba3b87153c0ac/autopkgtest-focal/focal/amd64/n/ndiswrapper/20201016_100835_ea657@/log.gz

[Kleber Sacilotto de Souza (kleber-souza)]

The proposed update adds a 'BUILD_EXCLUSIVE_KERNEL' directive to the dkms config file to build the modules only on 5.4 (including) and older kernels.

These changes have been tested as described on the 'Testcase' section of the bug description.

The source package can be found at https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~ksouza/lp1903549/, the binary build at https://launchpad.net/~kleber-souza/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+build/20273993.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Kleber, or anyone else affected,

Accepted ndiswrapper into focal-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ndiswrapper/1.60-8ubuntu3 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Kleber Sacilotto de Souza (kleber-souza)]

I confirm that ndiswrapper 1.60-8ubuntu3 dkms module can be built and loaded successfully with linux 5.4:

$ dkms status
ndiswrapper, 1.60, 5.4.0-55-generic, x86_64: installed

And the build is skipped as expected with linux-hwe 5.8:

Setting up ndiswrapper-dkms (1.60-8ubuntu3) ...
Loading new ndiswrapper-1.60 DKMS files...
Building for 5.8.0-30-generic
Building initial module for 5.8.0-30-generic
Error! The /var/lib/dkms/ndiswrapper/1.60/5.8.0-30-generic/x86_64/dkms.conf for module ndiswrapper
includes a BUILD_EXCLUSIVE directive which
does not match this kernel/arch. This indicates that it should not be built.
Skipped.

ADT tests were also successfully with both kernels:

* linux 5.4
- amd64: https://objectstorage.prodstack4-5.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_77e2ada1e7a84929a74ba3b87153c0ac/autopkgtest-focal/focal/amd64/n/ndiswrapper/20201124_205503_43475@/log.gz

* linux-hwe-5.8
- amd64: https://objectstorage.prodstack4-5.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_77e2ada1e7a84929a74ba3b87153c0ac/autopkgtest-focal/focal/amd64/n/ndiswrapper/20201126_131959_5f56b@/log.gz

Thanks!

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for ndiswrapper has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ndiswrapper - 1.60-8ubuntu3

---------------
ndiswrapper (1.60-8ubuntu3) focal; urgency=medium

  * Prevent the build of ndiswrapper-dkms modules for kernels newer than 5.4.
    Groovy has deprecated this package, so the ndiswrapper drivers won't be
    supported on Focal with the backported HWE kernels. (LP: #1903549)

 -- Kleber Sacilotto de Souza <email address hidden> Tue, 10 Nov 2020 11:01:23 +0100