Document open problems for the experimental Pi 5 image.
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TODO.md
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TODO.md
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# Experimental Pi 5 image
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## Linux kernel packages
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Until the Pi 5 is supported by Linux mainline and until suitable `linux-image-*`
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packages are available in Debian, it makes sense to ship a specific image for
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the Pi 5 that features `linux-image-*` packages (meta and regular) from
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Raspberry OS.
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It makes little to no sense to ship the Debian packages as well, as they are not
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going to be useful, and might even make things complicated:
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- What happens when an update shows up in Debian? Could it be preferred over
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the Raspberry OS one for the following boot, effectively bricking the PiRogue
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running on Pi 5?
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- Additionally that means a slightly bigger image to download initially (~ 100
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MB), plus useless upgrades later on.
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If we decide to get rid of them, we must make sure we're not losing any other
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packages pulled via dependencies, or any kind of integration (e.g. initramfs
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hooks).
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## Firmware packages
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A longstanding issue is that the `raspi-firmware` has been shipping Pi-related
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things from a very long while, mainly bootloader files and integration to make
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sure the Linux kernel image, the associated initramfs, and the DTBs are
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available under `/boot/firmware`. But that also include some wireless firmware
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files. It's been requested to move them to the existing `firmware-brcm80211`
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package but that hasn't happened yet.
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Unfortunately, Debian 12 doesn't ship firmware files making it possible to
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support the Pi 5 wireless interface (symptom: no `wlan0` interface). That's why
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we're pulling `firmware-brcm80211` from Raspberry OS in addition to Linux kernel
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packages. Since that package and Debian's `raspi-firmware` package have files in
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common, `dpkg` errors out when trying to install them side by side, that's why
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the Pi 5 image build uses `--force-overwrite`.
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Open questions:
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- What happens if and when Debian ships an updated `raspi-firmware` package?
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Will that trigger a new file conflict? Gut feeling: yes. An update during
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Debian 12's lifetime (either via the security team or the release team) seems
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*unlikely*.
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- What happens if and when Raspberry OS ships an updated `firmware-brcm80211`
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package? Will that trigger a new file conflict? Gut feeling: maybe not, if
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the initial overwrite triggered this package's being the registered owner of
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those files, we might be safe. An update during Debian 12's lifetime seems
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*possible* to *probable*, as the `firmware-nonfree` source package that
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builds this binary package might get updated to support newer hardware and/or
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to fix security and stability problems.
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It would be good to test both cases to see what happens. If both break horribly
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and we want to be safe, we could adjust the APT pinning (`pirogue.pref`) to
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avoid upgrades for both packages, for example.
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