kmod-wireguard on RHEL 8.4 about packages

[pjperry]

Good question.
ELRepo only "supports" the latest kernel release. We are unable to offer any guarantees for EUS because we do not have access to those kernels to test (plus it is not practical to maintain up to date package releases for multiple different kernels). However, all previously released packages are still available in our archives, but they will not be receiving further updates. Look for a local repo that carries the archive here on our download page:
http://elrepo.org/tiki/Download
The latest el8.4 release is here:
http://mirrors.coreix.net/elrepo/archive/elrepo/el8/x86_64/RPMS/kmod-wireguard-1.0.20210606-1.el8_4.elrepo.x86_64.rpm

[afarresg]

Thank you for the fast reply, @pjperry.

We will use an archive repository, then. Out of curiosity: I see there are some packages, like mbgclock-utils, that are supported in different RHEL versions. Is there any reason for that?

[pjperry]

Userland utils packages are not dependent upon any one kernel release so should work across any point release whereas a kmod package delivers a kernel module that is dependent upon the kernel ABI (kABI) of that individual kernel release. If the kABI remains stable (i.e, kernel symbols used by the driver do not change) then the kmod driver will also work across multiple kernel releases (and RHEL point releases).
However, in reality Red Hat backports many changes into the kernel of new RHEL point releases that break the kABI compatibility, thus most kmod packages need to be rebuilt against the newer kernel and are thus only compatible with that newer kernel.

[pjperry]

Closing issue as packages are available in the archive

[alexisfrjp]

But why does it try to update a package for 8.7 whereas I'm on 8.6?
AlmaLinux released 8.7 but Rocky Linux is still at 8.6.

Error: 
 Problem: cannot install the best update candidate for package kmod-wireguard-6:1.0.20220627-2.el8_6.elrepo.x86_64
  - nothing provides kernel >= 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8 needed by kmod-wireguard-7:1.0.20220627-3.el8_7.elrepo.x86_64

[pjperry]

But why does it try to update a package for 8.7 whereas I'm on 8.6? AlmaLinux released 8.7 but Rocky Linux is still at 8.6.

Error: 
 Problem: cannot install the best update candidate for package kmod-wireguard-6:1.0.20220627-2.el8_6.elrepo.x86_64
  - nothing provides kernel >= 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8 needed by kmod-wireguard-7:1.0.20220627-3.el8_7.elrepo.x86_64

What else would you propose? Should we leave RHEL 8.7 and Alma 8.7 users high and dry with a broken package because Rocky haven't released their clone yet?

It's up to you to manage your software - you can exclude kmod-wireguard until the required Rocky 8.7 kernel is available. DNF has given you the appropriate information as to the issue, it's up to you to manage that. Have you opened an issue with Rocky asking why they haven't released kernel-4.18.0-425.3.1.el8 yet?

[alexisfrjp]

We can imagine it doesn't try to install a el8_7 package (kmod-wireguard-7:1.0.20220627-3.el8_7.elrepo.x86_64) when the actual version of rhel is 8.6 only. Not like I'm trying to find a better way of handling things, just saying.

We know Rocky is always few days late, no need to open an issue.