Hi Mark, > I've only recently started using Linux-VServer but I am really impressed > by its performance so far. I was initially having problems with the Lenny > kernel's but then discovered Ben's beautiful repository and have had some > servers running stable for weeks now. > > Anyway, I was wondering how much work is actually involved in maintaining > a kernel image? With Debian's slow release cycle it seems that once they > stick with a kernel for a release, you only get updated kernel's when the > whole release gets updated or there are major security fixes required. Yes, once you have setup a kernel for one Debian release you just have to keep up with the security updates and apply those to your kernel. > So > I figured generally there is going to be a /trunk kernel image updated and > then you just need to apply the current VS patch against it and package it? Hm. As the Debian / Ubuntu kernel teams applies quite some additional patches to the vanilla kernel, applying a Linux-VServer patch against a Debian kernel tree might not be that easy. I have build vserver kernels for the last 4 or 5 Ubuntu releases and using an original Linux-VServer patch as a base I always got 5 to 15 rejects which I had to fix manually. This sometimes is very easy. But sometimes it requires some real work (at least for me). :) > I am definitely overdue for giving back to FOSS so this is something I may > be able to commit some time to.. however I want to make sure I am not > getting in over my head here and end up letting the project down. > > Can anyone estimate how much time they think it would take per week/month, > etc? and if it would generally be in waves of some busy weeks then quiet > for a month or two, or pretty steady? I would estimate I have spent about 5 days in setting up a working build environment, scripts, package archive... For every Debian release I would estimate another 1-2 days for the initial Linux-VServer kernel. This includes: choosing a vserver patch, adapting it till it applies cleanly, build and test the kernel. For every security update I would estimate about 2 hours for building, testing and uploading the kernel image. I have found the Ubuntu Launchpad build service [1] extremely useful. I would strongly suggest using something similar for Debian kernel images. If you are interested in the work I did for the Ubuntu kernels please take a look at [2] and [3]. Cheers, Christoph [1]: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas [2]: https://launchpad.net/~christoph-lukas/+archive/ppa [3]: http://git.pingworks.net/