I did some investigation on option 'b' above. Attached is a bunch of doc on how i did that.
The summary is we can exploit bug 1508975 to make all maas ppc64el users to start getting hwe-v instead of hwe-t by default by deleting the 'com.ubuntu.maas.daily:v2:boot:14.04:amd64:hwe-t' from existance. The next time 'import' runs in maas, the 'hwe-v' kernel would be used for enlistment and commissioning. That would have some interesting consequences, though: i. Users will get systems installed with hwe-w. Curtin assumes booting with hwe-N means installation of hwe-N is desired. ii. When hwe-w arrives it will automatically be used. I have not verified this, but I suspect that when 'hwe-w' arrives in stream data, then boot and enlistment would then magically move to using hwe-w, and then again with hwe-x. This assumption is based on the fact that my test deletion of hwe-t resulted in use of hwe-v rather than hwe-u (newest rather than oldest). I' That moving probably ends in hwe-x , and thus after 2016.05 as hwe-x is last kernel for trusty. iii. Users who were happy with hwe-t (kvm guests) will need manual action for install of hwe-t As a user, the "hwe-kernel ride" above seems a necessary evil at best. However, its not necessary for those on virtual hardware. hwe-t works well there and as a result is probably the recommended path for a user in a virtual machine. Those users would now have to manually 'apt-get install linux-generic && reboot' after installation to get that kernel. ** Attachment added: "detains on investigation" https://bugs.launchpad.net/maas-images/+bug/1508565/+attachment/4502562/+files/lp-1508565-investigation.txt ** Summary changed: - maas uses 3.13 (hwe-t) kernel which does not work on IBM power + maas uses 3.13 (hwe-t) kernel which does not work on non virtual IBM power ** Summary changed: - maas uses 3.13 (hwe-t) kernel which does not work on non virtual IBM power + maas uses 3.13 (hwe-t) kernel which does not work on non-virtual IBM power -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1508565 Title: maas uses 3.13 (hwe-t) kernel which does not work on non-virtual IBM power To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/maas/+bug/1508565/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs