Package: libc6
Version: 2.31-11
Severity: normal

Hi,

due to 
https://salsa.debian.org/glibc-team/glibc/-/commit/6ddfa57577af0d96df9ddd7be401f5ce9a9bcc0f
 (a commit from 2004) the preinst script for glibc checks whether the "z" in 
the "x.y.z" of the kernel version is less than 255. If yes, the package refuses 
to install.

I hit this problem on a box with a custom 4.9.266 kernel.

Based on this lkml thread: 
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/7pR0YCctzN9phpuEChlL7_SS6auHOM80bZBcGBTZPuMkc6XjKw7HUXf9vZUPi-IaV2gTtsRVXgywQbja8xpzjGRDGWJsVYSGQN5sNuX1yaQ=@protonmail.com/T/,
 the check is no longer needed because the kernel caps the version code it 
reports to 255, even if uname prints a higher number.

Of course, you could conceivably still hit the problem with earlier kernels, so 
I suppose the logic of the check should be modified, not removed entirely, to 
be technically correct.

If forced at gunpoint to make a guess, I would guess, though, that removing the 
check would have very little actual impact; it also doesn't protect the user 
from installing a kernel with an unsupported version number after having 
installed glibc.

Best regards,

AndrĂ¡s

-- 
     A ham sandwich is better than nothing. Nothing is better than eternal
         happiness. So a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness.

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