Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: 2024-02-26-debianutils-drops-installkernel-dep: add news item

[Andrew Nowa Ammerlaan <andrewammerlaan@gentoo.org>]

On 27/02/2024 04:55, Duncan wrote:
> Andrew Nowa Ammerlaan posted on Mon, 26 Feb 2024 18:13:32 +0100 as
> excerpted:
> 
>> Removing sys-kernel/installkernel from your system WILL change the way
>> kernels are installed by 'make install'! Instead of the versioned
>> /boot/vmlinuz-x.y.z that you are used to, 'make install' will simply
>> copy bzImage (or equivalent for you arch) into /boot. This image may not
>> be picked up by your bootloader or its configuration tools.
> 
> I'm uncomfortable with that unconditional, "SHOUTED" even, "WILL".
> 
> That isn't the case here -- I've been getting versioned images without the
> debianutils-based installkernel script for years.

I'm going to disagree here, this *is* the case. If you have it installed 
and remove it, then the way the kernel is installed will change.

The point is that I have seen *many* users on our various support 
channels that thought they either:
- did not use installkernel before when they actually did and therefore 
disregard the instructions in the news item, or
- thought the news item did not apply to them because they misunderstand 
what 'make install' does, and therefore disregard essential instructions 
in the news item, or
- complain that they don't want automation, when they have in fact been 
using this tool for ages. Then remove installkernel.

Such misunderstandings can, and have, lead to systems breaking. I do not 
want this to happen again and therefore I want it to be very clear that 
if you remove installkernel that this will change things for you.

> I long ago (when installkernel was still part of debianutils according to
> comments in my version, presumably the debianutils default-enabled USE was
> set when it was split out to avoid just this sort of surprise at that
> time) created my own version based on the debianutils version, but
> bashified/comment-and-var-name-clarified and with a config file that
> determines various behavior (along with behavior for my other kernel-
> related build/patch/config/etc scripts). 

Yes sure, you can make your own /sbin/installkernel. And that means you 
don't have sys-kernel/installkernel installed and therefore none of this 
applies to you.

But for users that do have it installed now, and have it depcleaned, 
behavior is changed always. It is therefore not a case of "will likely" 
because it will always.

As a side note, latest version of installkernel also supports reading a 
config (install.conf), not sure if this suits your needs but might be 
worth to check out.

> Maybe "will likely", or "will, unless you've specifically configured other
> behavior", or "will, unless you've previously setup your own solution"?
> ("Will" can then be SHOUTED or not, as desired, because the statement is
> then sufficiently conditional regardless.)

If you have setup your own solution, then you a) don't have this package 
installed to begin with, and b) clearly know what you are doing. This 
news item is for those users that a) do currently have installkernel 
installed and b) often don't know the intricacies of what 'make install' 
and installkernel do.

Best regards,
Andrew