Tom Grzybowski wrote on the 7th of October 2021, 23:41 CEST:
I have a related question: instead of us breaking what is working by updating the kernel regularly, why don't we find a good working kernel version and move on only when we can match that in terms of functionality? Is there some "requirement" to always feature the latest kernel?
Well, for Debian unstable PPC64BE, this could be an option. I found it worthwhile to update the kernels as they come along because of additional features that come with new versions, e.g. btrfs gets better sometimes (like async discard, which came in kernel 5.6), and to get not only additional features but also valuable fixes, enhancements and speed-ups (e.g. https://phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-5.10.8-Released) I kind of needed to upgrade... The second thought that comes to my mind (which is long past at this point) would be to detect introduced incompatibilities early-on. E.g. since an earlier 5.x kernel still worked with nouveau and a later one didn't, helping out with disecting the relevant kernel patches would have been only possible when updating the kernel... Yes, I also do wonder who still uses PPC64BE. I have two Power Macs G5 that I started to put Gentoo on. I wanted to get a working desktop Linux on them. Instead I found that KDE Plasma Desktop wasn't available and/or tested on PPC64BE as well as problems with nouveau, so it is my experience that it takes a lot of time to continue such a hobby project... Linux User #330250
