spl-dkms 0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4: spl kernel module failed to build

[Richard Blocker]

After installing 4.7.0-040700-generic_4.7.0-040700.201608021801_amd64 downloaded from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.7

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: spl-dkms 0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4
Uname: Linux 4.7.0-040700-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
DKMSKernelVersion: 4.7.0-040700-generic
Date: Fri Oct 14 18:10:28 2016
DuplicateSignature: dkms:spl-dkms:0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4:/var/lib/dkms/spl/0.6.5.6/build/include/linux/file_compat.h:79:45: error: ‘struct inode’ has no member named ‘i_mutex’
InstallationDate: Installed on 2016-10-13 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160420.1)
PackageVersion: 0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.1
 apt 1.2.12~ubuntu16.04.1
SourcePackage: spl-linux
Title: spl-dkms 0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4: spl kernel module failed to build
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Scott Emmons (lscotte)]

Running into the same problem here with Xenial - spl-dkms 0.6.5.6-0ubuntu4 does not have patches required to compile on kernels newer than 4.7. The fix for this in spl-dkms was fixed in upstream ZFS 0.6.5.8 [1] and is already in upstream Debian jessie-backports [2] and confirmed working there.

As a result, this prevents installing newer kernels that are distributed in Ubuntu on systems requiring ZFS, such as linux-image-4.8.0-34-generic.

[1] https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/5064
[2] https://packages.debian.org/jessie-backports/spl-dkms

[Anton Eliasson (eliasson)]

As a workaround you can add the yakkety repositories (with a very low priority in order to not accidentally upgrade any other part of your system) and install the ZFS packages from there. They are pretty self-contained and shouldn't interfere with anything else. Look for "apt pinning" for details on this approach.

I have the following yakkety packages installed on my xenial system in order to use ZFS successfully:

$ dpkg -l | grep 0.6.5.8 | awk '{print $1 " " $2 " " $3 " " $4}'
ii libnvpair1linux 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii libuutil1linux 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii libzfs2linux 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii libzpool2linux 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii spl 0.6.5.8-2 amd64
ii spl-dkms 0.6.5.8-2 all
ii zfs-dkms 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii zfs-doc 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 all
ii zfs-zed 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64
ii zfsutils-linux 0.6.5.8-0ubuntu4 amd64

[Anton Eliasson (eliasson)]

> use ZFS successfully
...with a 4.8 kernel from Ubuntu's MainlineBuilds.

[Scott Emmons (lscotte)]

A clarification - this sort of issue will only occur when using the ZFS dkms packages - zfs-dkms and spl-dkms. When using ubuntu kernel builds, such as linux-image-4.8.0-34-generic, binary drivers are already available in the linux-image-extra-4.8.0-34-generic.