Arch Linux User Repository

OpenZFS currently supports Linux kernel versions 4.18 - 6.14, as declared in the META file.

Options if your Linux kernel's version is not within that range:

1) Switch to another Linux kernel, such as linux-lts.

2) Prevent your kernel package from upgrading to an unsupported version until OpenZFS increases the maximum supported kernel version.

3) Modify this package to support your kernel by patching it on your local machine.

When requesting changes, please include detailed reasoning for the change.

If you receive this error when trying to build, it is because you have not imported the GPG keys used for verification.

==> ERROR: One or more PGP signatures could not be verified!

You have two options:

1) Import the two keys into your keyring. ArchWiki article. You can find the key IDs in the PKGBUILD file, in the validpgpkeys array. (recommended)

2) Alternatively, you can skip this verification by passing the --skippgpcheck argument to makepkg when building. (not recommended)

@kstopl: Thanks for the thought you have put into this possibility (and, of course, for the great work maintaining the package!). I do agree that there does not seem to be an obvious option that would assuredly work in all cases.

So I think it's best do to as you last said: leave things as they are and let users be responsible and verify compatibility before upgrading their kernel (ZFS users should know better).

@itoffshore: I think using a bleeding edge kernel with ZFS is fine as long as it is officially supported. It's up to each user to ensure that.

@kstolp - I run linux-hardened with linux-lts as a fallback kernel (I expect others use linux-lts as a fallback too). Anyone using zfs should not be using a bleeding edge kernel as zfs development naturally lags a little behind new linux kernel features. The existing pacman output is a sufficient clue without adding to maintenance with kernel version constraints.

Anyone interested in signed zfs (& other out of tree) kernel modules - see arch-sign-modules.

@artodeto

That package specifically targets the default linux package. In their PKGBUILD, they use the variable _kernelver as a custom variable. _kernelver isn't something standard within PKGBUILD that causes it to limit the version of any installed kernel (if that's what you were thinking). Since that package depends on linux and linux-headers, this wouldn't necessarily work for someone who is only using the Zen kernel and has linux-zen and linux-zen-headers installed. See lines 10-16 where they explain.

I'm also hesitant to commit to my previous suggestion of including incompatible kernel versions for all officially supported kernels in the conflicts array. My concern is that there may be users who have linux and linux-lts installed, and simply boot to linux-lts when a linux update breaks this package. This suggested change would force the user to uninstall this package or linux when an update like this happens.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please do let me know. I appreciate the input/feedback. If I don't hear anything, then I will leave things as they are where users are responsible for reading the output of pacman -Syu and taking appropriate action themselves.

@kstopl

As you can see in the "zfs-linux" package, there is a way to limit kernel version (see _kernelver). For more detail, read the PKGBUILD(5).

Best regards and thanks for your work so far.

I don't believe we can add specific versions of the linux kernel as dependencies, since users may be using a different kernel. However, I can explore adding the officially supported kernels with their incompatible versions to the conflicts array.

I do think that RubenKelevra's idea is a good one: why not specify the compatible kernel version range (as published by OpenZFS) as dependencies in the PKGBUILD?

That way at least the kernel upgrade will be blocked if it's not compatible (as happens with with zfs-linux).

What say you, kstolp?

==> dkms install --no-depmod zfs/2.1.11 -k 6.3.1-arch1-1
configure: error: 
        *** None of the expected "capability" interfaces were detected.
        *** This may be because your kernel version is newer than what is
        *** supported, or you are using a patched custom kernel with
        *** incompatible modifications.
        ***
        *** ZFS Version: zfs-2.1.11-1
        *** Compatible Kernels: 3.10 - 6.2

Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.3.1-arch1-1 (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/zfs/2.1.11/build/make.log for more information.
==> WARNING: `dkms install --no-depmod zfs/2.1.11 -k 6.3.1-arch1-1' exited 10

This package's dependencies should reflect that it's incompatible, so one can avoid updating the kernel.

ZFS 2.1.11 is not compatible with linux 6.3. Waiting on Issue #14622.

@sgh unfortunately i don't know pacaur's functionalities. If i were you I would try either my steps or dhathaway's. I can assure you it has never failed me... not once... the only issue you could incur is a kernel version and zfs package version "mismatch" as sometimes with newer kernels zfs packages won't install due to some dependencies problems (I.e the kernel does not support that zfs version)... other than that the methods we provided are rock solid mate.

@2G_Storm

I use "pacaur -Syu" it pulls both but still fails.

running with "-d" to skip dependency check works, but I feel something is wrong dependency wise because 2.1.9 installed just fine.