Build (backport) an newer Ubuntu package to run on an older Ubuntu version

thanks for the very quick reply. I get:

Code:

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sudo prevu-init
I: Building against currently running distro: hardy
W: /home/brianokeefe/.pbuilderrc does not exist
Distribution is hardy.
Building the build environment
 -> running debootstrap
/usr/sbin/debootstrap
I: Retrieving Release
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Resolving dependencies of required packages...
I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...
W: Failure trying to run: chroot /var/cache/prevu/builds/8201/. mount -t proc proc /proc
pbuilder: debootstrap failed
 -> Aborting with an error
 -> cleaning the build env
    -> removing directory /var/cache/prevu/builds/8201 and its subdirectories
pbuilder sub-process failed!

---

W: Failure trying to run: chroot /var/cache/prevu/builds/8201/. mount -t proc proc /proc
pbuilder: debootstrap failed


That's a pbuilder error, not prevu's fault. Pointless blame-punting aside, are you running a grsec kernel or other hardened kernel with chroot restrictions?

I'm running a vanilla 2.6.24-19 kernel. The newer kernel has problems. I don't know what a grsec kernel is....
I'll boot into 24-21 and see what happens and report back.

As I'm running a powerpc kernel I wonder if that's the problem. PowerPc is no longer supported and is now a ported distro.
I booted into the newest kernel for Hardy for PowerPc, 2.6.24-21 and ran prevu-init:

Code:

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sudo prevu-init
[sudo] password for brianokeefe:
I: Building against currently running distro: hardy
W: /home/brianokeefe/.pbuilderrc does not exist
Distribution is hardy.
Building the build environment
 -> running debootstrap
/usr/sbin/debootstrap
I: Retrieving Release
E: Failed getting release file http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy/Release
pbuilder: debootstrap failed
 -> Aborting with an error
 -> cleaning the build env
    -> removing directory /var/cache/prevu/builds/7235 and its subdirectories
pbuilder sub-process failed!

---

How do I get Prevu to use the release for PowerPC? I think that it is here:
http://ports.ubuntu.com/dists/hardy/Release

Ah, I think you found the problem then! I don't know of a cleaner way than to manually edit prevu, prevu-init, and prevu-update in /usr/bin with a search-and-replace. It's all legible (pretty well written) Python, so it should be self-explanatory which lines need a bit of mirror mangling :)

Hmmm...
I edited the appropriate files as you suggested Jdong (Thanks for the quick reply once again!). I wasn't exactly sure about the correct mirror. I tried to follow the site to the same point that would get to the /dist subdirectory as you had originally written the code. In my case that was:

deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/

as opposed to your:

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu

In each case they both have the same subdirectories so I'm assuming that this should work. Unfortunately I got:

Code:

---

~$ sudo prevu-init
I: Building against currently running distro: hardy
W: /home/brianokeefe/.pbuilderrc does not exist
Distribution is hardy.
Building the build environment
 -> running debootstrap
/usr/sbin/debootstrap
I: Retrieving Release
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Retrieving Packages
I: Resolving dependencies of required packages...
I: Resolving dependencies of base packages...
W: Failure trying to run: chroot /var/cache/prevu/builds/8074/. mount -t proc proc /proc
pbuilder: debootstrap failed
 -> Aborting with an error
 -> cleaning the build env
    -> removing directory /var/cache/prevu/builds/8074 and its subdirectories
pbuilder sub-process failed!

---

this is when booted into the 24-21 kernel too. I'm baffled.:(

Hi,

Is there a way to backport with using pbuilder but not prevu? It seems prevu changes the changelog itself and adds the extension ~prevu1 or something close to that. Can I set my own extension with prevu? ~martinistudio1 for example?

Thanks in advance,

Editing prevu's source code, it's fairly obvious where prevu keeps track of what version suffix to append. But prevu uses pbuilder internally.

The python code should be fairly readable; prevu is a convenience tool, it doesn't do anything mysteriously magical.

I'll look into that, thanks

Is it possible to backport a kernel?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by martinistudio

I'll look into that, thanks

Is it possible to backport a kernel?

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I would not recommend the use of prevu to do so, as kernel source packages in Ubuntu don't quite get version information from the debian/changelog directly.