Upstream kernel update workflow

Created by: ollieparanoid

Status Quo

We have three upstream kernels (directly from kernel.org) packaged:

• linux-postmarketos-mainline (most bleeding edge, we allow device specific patches on top as long as they are getting upstreamed in parallel)
• linux-postmarketos-stable
• linux-postmarketos-lts

Right now the update policy is, that whoever wants to update it, makes a PR (@craftyguy did it for a time, thanks a lot!). The reality is, that all upstream kernel packages are outdated by now.

Proposal

I would like to make updating the kernels as easy as possible. Here's what the user updating the kernels would do:

• Add pmbootstrap aportgen linux-postmarketos-lts (and all other variants):
  • Looks up the current kernel versions from kernel.org
  • Generates the kernel APKBUILDs (which are long and all have duplicated code right now, so this makes it easier to maintain in general)
  • Runs pmbootstrap checksum internally to download the kernel tarballs and create the checksums
• Try to build all updated kernels (pmbootstrap build linux-postmarketos-mainline linux-postmarketos-stable linux-postmarketos-lts)
• When a device specific patch we're carrying fails to apply in the mainline packaging:
  • Just throw that patch out. Either it has been upstreamed already, or it is incompatible now.
  • Note in the device's wiki page which commit was the last one that had the patch included.
• When all kernels build, commit it directly to the pmbootstrap master branch (if the user has write access, that's currently @MartijnBraam and me) or make a PR for the update.

Maintainer

I'd be happy if someone jumped in and said they would like to do it. If no one shows up, I would do it.

What do you think, folks?