On 6/8/23 04:28, Arsen Arsenović wrote:
Please reconsider dropping the configure-time version check.
I already dropped it, so this discussion is more about the general
principle than this particular case.
It is entirely reasonable to expect that a user will roll back a kernel
update, as there are many reasons one might have to do so.
Sure, but if they do so, and if programs use configure-time checks whose
results depend on the kernel version, users will have to rebuild and
reconfigure these programs.
That's just a fact of life. This is not just a Gnulib issue. Many
programs do lots of configure-time checks. Nobody that I know of has
time to audit them all.
*Usually* rolling back the kernel will work, because *usually* it's a
small rollback and programs built for a newer kernel won't exercise the
small area where the kernels differ in a way that will cause
user-visible symptoms.
But in general it does not work, and cannot reasonably be expected to
work.
So: when in doubt, rebuild. Of course if you've carefully audited the
program and know that its configure-time tests are valid for the older
kernel, you can skip the rebuild. Or if building speed is more important
to you than reliable applications, you can also skip the rebuild.