In case anybody else runs into this issue, here's some things you could do :
On 4.15, you can reconfigure the namespace with ndctl by adding '--no-autolabel' to the command line. You'll still have to find a way to make the namespaces configuration persistent across boots since you're not making uses of the labels.
On 4.18, if you use a fixed kernel + fixed ndctl to setup the namespace(s), the configuration will be properly read at boot by the current linux hwe 4.18 kernel.
In case anybody else runs into this issue, here's some things you could do :
On 4.15, you can reconfigure the namespace with ndctl by adding '--no-autolabel' to the command line. You'll still have to find a way to make the namespaces configuration persistent across boots since you're not making uses of the labels.
On 4.18, if you use a fixed kernel + fixed ndctl to setup the namespace(s), the configuration will be properly read at boot by the current linux hwe 4.18 kernel.