FOSS activity in 2025
This was a particularly busy month for me in terms of Debian contributions.
It started with a week in Hamburg for the MiniDebConf. I talked to many colleagues face-to-face and worked on various bugs and maintenance tasks. I’m pleased to have finally found the time to reproduce and fix the boot-time crashes in the parallel port subsystem that have been reported many times recently.
A series of easily exploited kernel LPE (local privilege execution) issues were published this month, mostly with very little coordination with distributions. Salvatore and I had to upload fixes for these at roughly weekly intervals. All of these fixes needed to be applied to 4 different upstream branches (currently 5.10, 6.1, 6.12, and 7.0) and 7 Debian branches (including backports).
- Debian packages:
- cis-tools:
- dracut:
- Bugs:
- replied to #1131809: dracut: ppc64el autopkgtest are flaky and take 7 hours per run (and discussed it in-person in Hamburg)
- Bugs:
- firmware-free:
- Bugs:
- Merge requests:
- firmware-nonfree:
- Merge requests:
- closed !68: Draft: Update bullseye in line with buster
- reviewed and merged !146: gencontrol: s/initramfs-tools/update-initramfs/
- merged !147: control: stop suggesting initramfs-tools
- opened and merged !148: Update to 20260519
- opened and merged !149: Include more firmware in binary packages
- opened !150: Update and remove obsolete package relations
- Merge requests:
- gnome-shell:
- Bugs:
- replied to and reassigned #1135951: linux-image-6.12.85+deb13-amd64: secure data is visible when waking from suspsend
- Bugs:
- initramfs-tools:
- Bugs:
- Merge requests:
- reviewed !142: Handle simple-framebuffer drivers and framebuffer_coreboot built as modules
- closed !150: Do not install ARM/RISCV specific modules on other architectures
- closed !173: Draft: Introduce copy_file helper program to replace copy_file function
- opened and merged !195: unmkinitramfs: Make it compatible with Busybox cpio
- reviewed !196: add module to add fw files from DT firmware-name properties
- Uploads:
- uploaded version 0.148.4 to trixie
- ktls-utils:
- Merge requests:
- merged !5: Update to 1.4.0
- Uploads:
- uploaded version 1.4.0-1 to unstable
- Merge requests:
- linux:
- Bugs:
- replied to #1130365: linux-image-6.18.15+deb14-amd64: kernel panic during startup
- replied to #1136800: linux-image-7.0.4+deb14-amd64: fails to boot
- replied to #1136894: linux-image-7.0.4+deb14-amd64: Kernel Panic - AMDGPU crash
- replied to #1136978: linux-image-7.0.4+deb14-amd64: kernel NULL pointer dereference
- replied to and closed #1137202: linux-image-7.1-amd64: Kernel panic on boot
- replied to #1137203: bnx2: ifupdown-hotplug fails at boot, no network, regression from 5.10.0-42
- replied to #1137642: linux-image-7.0.7+deb13-amd64: Failed to load Bluetooth driver
- Merge requests:
- closed !1720: arm64: Enable Renesas RZ/G2L features
- merged !1759: [arm64] Enable AIR_EN8811H_PHY as module
- merged !1792: [arm64] Enable BST platform support
- closed !1817: [sparc64] Add patches to fix user stack sync and add clone3() syscall
- merged !1837: [arm64] Enable configs for Qualcomm RB1 boards
- reviewed !1845: [amd64,arm64] Enable KEXEC_HANDOVER and LIVEUPDATE
- merged !1878: [riscv64] Enable CMA and DMA_CMA. Set CMA_SIZE_MBYTES=64
- merged !1884: [amd64] Enable Intel USBIO bridge driver and submodules
- opened !1904: Improve package descriptions for most of the kernel packages
- reviewed and merged !1906: Enable SND_SOC_SDCA_CLASS and SND_SOC_SDCA_{FDL, HID, IRQ} for Panther Lake audio support
- opened and merged !1910: Add backported patches for Dirty Frag attack
- merged !1911: Qualcomm Monaco and Talos support
- merged !1913: d/watch: migrate to version 5
- reviewed !1936: [sparc64] Add nvme module to scsi-modules udeb
- reviewed !1948: [amd64] Enable Intel Platform Hardware Support Drivers
- opened and merged !1951: Fix dirtying of the source tree when building tools
- merged !1954: 7.0 backport ‘Fix for “fragnesia” (CVE-2026-46300) and variants’
- merged !1955: 6.12 backport ‘Fix for “fragnesia” (CVE-2026-46300) and variants’
- opened !1956: Draft: Enable a fully parallel build
- Uploads:
- (LTS) uploaded versions 5.10.251-2, 5.10.251-3, 5.10.251-4, 5.10.251-5, 5.10.257-1 to bullseye-security
- uploaded versions 6.12.85-1~bpo12+1, 6.12.86-1~bpo12+1, 6.12.88-1~bpo12+1, 6.12.90-1~bpo12+1, 6.12.90-2~bpo12+1 to bookworm-backports
- uploaded versions 6.19.14-1~bpo13+1, 7.0.10-1~bpo13+1, 7.0.4-1~bpo13+1, 7.0.7-1~bpo13+1, 7.0.9-1~bpo13+1 to trixie-backports
- Bugs:
- (LTS) linux-6.1:
- Uploads:
- uploaded versions 6.1.170-1~deb11u1, 6.1.170-3~deb11u1, 6.1.172-1~deb11u1, 6.1.174-1~deb11u1 to bullseye-security
- Uploads:
- miniramfs:
- Bugs:
- replied to #1132532: miniramfs: Missing cpio dependency
- Bugs:
- nfs-utils:
- wireless-regdb:
- Uploads:
- uploaded version 2026.03.18-1 to unstable
- Uploads:
- Debian non-package bugs:
- Mailing lists:
- debian-boot:
- debian-devel:
- replied to Licensing of licenses
- debian-kernel:
- posted Agenda items for kernel-team meeting on 2026-05-13
- posted and replied to [RFC] Using SimpleDRM in the initramfs
- replied to [bjarniig@simnet.is: kernel-img.conf.5: warning from “lint”]
- debian-lts-announce:
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4560-1] linux security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4561-1] linux-6.1 security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4572-1] linux security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4574-1] linux-6.1 security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4587-1] linux security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4588-1] linux-6.1 security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4606-1] linux security update
- posted [SECURITY] [DLA 4607-1] linux-6.1 security update
- linux-hyperv:
- linux-perf-users:
- posted and replied to [PATCH 0/3] Fix out-of-tree build of some tools
- linux-sh:
- linux-trace-kernel:
- netdev:
- (mostly LTS) stable:
- replied to Linux 5.15.205
- posted [5.10,5.15] i3c: fix uninitialized variable use in i2c setup
- posted [6.6] fbdev/vt8500lcdfb: Initialize fb_ops with fbdev macros
- posted [6.6] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
- posted [6.6] x86/CPU/AMD: Move the Zen3 BTC_NO detection to the Zen3 init function
- posted [7.0] perf loongarch: Fix build failure with CONFIG_LIBDW_DWARF_UNWIND
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 002/589] ASoC: SOF: topology: reject invalid vendor array size in token parser
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 027/589] xfrm: Wait for RCU readers during policy netns exit
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 072/589] media: uvcvideo: Use heuristic to find stream entity
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 095/589] ALSA: usb-audio: fix null pointer dereference on pointer cs_desc
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 096/589] scsi: ufs: core: Improve SCSI abort handling
- posted [PATCH 5.10 1/2] Revert “RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init”
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 101/589] rxrpc: Fix key quota calculation for multitoken keys
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 114/589] arm64: dts: imx8mq-librem5: Dont mark buck3 as always on
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 176/589] KVM: nSVM: Mark all of vmcb02 dirty when restoring nested state
- replied to [PATCH 5.10 177/589] KVM: nSVM: Sync NextRIP to cached vmcb12 after VMRUN of L2
- posted and replied to [PATCH 5.10 2/2] RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init
- posted [PATCH 5.10-5.15] apparmor: validate default DFA states are in bounds
- posted [PATCH 5.10-6.1] fbdev: vt8500lcdfb: Fix dma_free_coherent() cpu_addr parameter
- posted [PATCH 5.10-6.1] x86/CPU/AMD: Move the Zen3 BTC_NO detection to the Zen3 init function
- replied to [PATCH 5.10] Revert “s390/cio: Fix device lifecycle handling in css_alloc_subchannel()”
- posted [PATCH 5.10] Revert “s390/cio: Fix device lifecycle handling in css_alloc_subchannel()”
- posted [PATCH 5.10] net: skbuff: preserve shared-frag marker during coalescing
- posted [PATCH 5.10] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
- posted [PATCH 5.10] phy: renesas: rcar-gen3-usb2: Fix msleep() in atomic context
- posted [PATCH 5.10] selftests: forwarding: lib: Add helpers for checksum handling
- posted [PATCH 5.15 1/2] Revert “RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init”
- posted [PATCH 5.15 2/2] RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init
- replied to [PATCH 5.15.y] net: usb: lan78xx: Fix double free issue with interrupt buffer allocation
- posted [PATCH 5.15] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
- posted [PATCH 5.15] selftests: forwarding: lib: Add helpers for checksum handling
- posted [PATCH 6.1 1/2] Revert “RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init”
- posted [PATCH 6.1 2/2] RDMA/rxe: Fix double free in rxe_srq_from_init
- posted [PATCH 6.1] apparmor: validate default DFA states are in bounds
- posted [PATCH 6.1] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
- posted [PATCH 6.1] selftests: forwarding: lib: Add helpers for checksum handling
- posted [PATCH 6.6] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through frag-transfer helpers
- replied to [PATCH net] net: skbuff: propagate shared-frag marker through pskb_copy()
- posted [PATCH] parport: Fix race between port and client registration