Arch Linux User Repository

If you keep the linux, and linux-headers packages while using the LTS you don't need to modify the PKGBUILDs. Because the checks will pass but it will build the packages to your current runnning kernel.

All, if you're suffering zfs kernel upgrade pain & fatigue, seriously consider going with the LTS (long term support) kernel. I just successfully built zfs on a system that I switched to the linux-lts 3.0.48-1. All you have to do is install the linux-lts and linux-lts-headers packages, reboot to the lts kernel, and change any instances of depends= or makedepends= lines in the package build file like so: Before: depends=('linux>=3.5' "spl>=${pkgver}" "zfs-utils>=${pkgver}") makedepends=('linux-headers>=3.5') After: depends=('linux-lts>=3.0' "spl>=${pkgver}" "zfs-utils>=${pkgver}") makedepends=('linux-lts-headers>=3.0') Then build and install each package in this order: spl-utils,spl,zfs-utils,zfs. Worked like a champ for me.

@demizer: there still seemed to be a problem during upgrading - zfs/spl requires kernel of certain version (hard-coded) and this blocks the upgrade (the old installed zfs/spl requires the old kernel and kernel can't be upgraded w/o breaking dependency of zfs/spl and therefore build of the new zfs/spl fails, too). So far, I have had to remove zpl/spl, upgrade kernel, rebuild + install spl/zfs and manually run depmod against the new kernel (i.e. the postinst: depmod -a does not work until next reboot) and only then reboot to load the new kernel & zfs modules successfully. That is quite clumsy and error-prone - I hope it will be resolved via DMKS.

@modular, You're trying to build with the 3.6.2 kernel. The current version (rc11) does not work with the 3.6.2 kernel. If you want to use it, you will have to downgrade to the 3.5.6 kernel (linux and linux-headers). https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Downgrading_Packages Thanks!

@demizer I don't/won't run ZFS as a root file system. I'm getting the following build error: http://pastebin.com/ZcWiaViK

@modular, I don't use zfs as root, but I don't think you need to depmod and mkinitcpio every time you upgrade, i'm not 100% sure though since I don't use zfs as root. depmod is done automatically by makepkg on install. I do know for sure that on kernel upgrades (3.5.5 -> 3.5.6), you will have to rebuild and upgrade. I am working on a DKMS solution to help alleviate this and am also working on making an unofficial repository so users don't have to build themselves. Honestly at this point I would not use zfs as root because linux support is still under very heavy development. zfs is stable as a rock, but not the integration into linux. Case in point, the 3.6 kernel is released and the patches have been merged into the ZOL source tree, but the ZOL devs still have not made a release. To this end, I would say if you use zfs with anything in linux, make sure you have proper backups before updating. You just never know. As of this moment I am waiting for the next ZOL release, rc12, before I update the packages on AUR. At some point in the future I will also update the git packages in AUR, after getting permission or control from the current zfs-git package maintainer in AUR so users can easily build the latest git version if they choose.

Isn't there a more elegant version of updating? What do you guys do? depmod, then mkinitcpio -p linux every time? Linux 3.6.2 is current in Arch, can you fix this package accordingly? Thanks!

@srf21c, I will see about adjusting the dependency versions to have a minimum for the lts kernels. I'll have to look around to see what the standard practice is for kernel packages when it comes to linux-lts. Until then, change 3.5 to 3.0 when building the packages with makepkg, or whatever you use to install packages from AUR. It should install fine. Let me know if you have any problems. @ronnylov, I just finished setting up my data server with systemd and also ran into no problems with zfs, but I also don't run zfs as root. I think the main issue with systemd and zfs is with those that run zfs as root. From what I have read, the ZOL developers that run as root, don't use systemd... yet. Of course, I would also like to get rid of the last vestiges of the old initscripts off my system, as we all probably do, but the arch devs did a great job of integrating everything and it is completely out of the way.