proposal: all: require Linux kernel version 2.6.32

[OneOfOne]

The last version of 2.6.23(.17) was released on February 2008 src.
The current CentOS LTS (v7) uses kernel 3.10 src.
Debian's minimum is 3.16 src.

A quick search shows lot of random issues that could have been avoided by supported a slightly newer kernel.

This is a request to bump the minimum required kernel version to at least 3.10.

[mvdan]

I support this change. Other GOOS variants fairly regularly drop support for older versions, and Linux 2.x hasn't had any upstream support at all since 2016 (2.6.32 got extended by Ubuntu/RHEL, other 2.x versions went EOL by 2012). Supporting dozens of Linux versions at once adds cost to maintenance and code complexity, makes testing more difficult, etc.

Worth noting that Debian Stretch, now "oldstable", has long-term support until mid-2022, and is on Linux 3.16 like you say. The actual stable release is on Linux 4.19, which is supported by upstream until 2024.

Similarly, CentOS v7 using Linux 3.10 is supported until 2024. So it seems like we could consider another bump sometime after.

[andrius4669]

glibc now also requires at least 3.2 version since 2.27 (announcement) for all architectures, including x86 ones.
The only issue I can imagine at the moment is old kernels used in OpenVZ VPSes, but they're starting becoming a problem for newer debian versions already.
One I have is currently running "2.6.32-042stab134.7" and debian stretch works on it (uses glibc 2.24), however updating to jessie is not possible due to its use of glibc 2.28.
For non-x86 architectures this shouldn't be an issue, which was also possibly the reason (or at least was part of) why glibc delayed their requirement for 3.2 kernel only for x86 architectures (they required 3.2 kernel in 2.25 version on other architectures).

[networkimprov]

@ianlancetaylor perhaps this should be a proposal?

[ianlancetaylor]

Thanks, moved into proposal process.

[rsc]

This proposal has been added to the active column of the proposals project
and will now be reviewed at the weekly proposal review meetings.
— rsc for the proposal review group

[rsc]

glibc requires 3.2. CentOS apparently requires 3.10.
What are we thinking of changing the minimum to?

And what are the benefits of bumping the minimum?
The link in the top comment is a search for [kernel 2.6.23] in the issue tracker.
Not all of them are bugs in 2.6.23 kernels.

Is there code we will be able to delete, like when we dropped XP?
Would we make Go binaries crash at startup if running on an old kernel?

[rsc]

We are still trying to understand this change, specifically
the exact details (which version? do we take the time to check kernel version and crash at startup on old kernels?)
and benefits (which code can be simplified or deleted?).

Any thoughts?

[mvdan]

I'll give my opinion on those questions, but I'm not the author of this proposal.

which version?

I think changing the minimum to 3.10 would be sensible, given the Linux distro info given above. I don't see a clear reason to go lower than that; even if glibc still supports 3.2 today, that kernel version went EOL in 2018 and isn't used by any supported Linux distro that I can find.

do we take the time to check kernel version and crash at startup on old kernels

We don't do that check right now with our current minimum, right? Is a new minimum different from the existing minimum, given that we're choosing it to be very conservative?

which code can be simplified or deleted?

To me, one of the main benefits is testing. I'd assume that we want to have a GOOS=linux builder running the oldest version of the kernel we support, to have more confidence that it actually works as advertised. That's a lot harder to do if that version is EOL, and isn't used by any maintained distro.

Even if one wanted to have GOOS=linux builders at multiple major versions of Linux (maybe popular LTS versions), bumping the minimum would hopefully mean fewer of those versions to worry about.

Asking for a summary of code that could be simplified, or issues that could be closed, seems reasonable. I'm not experienced in this area, but with five minutes of grepping I found five likely candidates:

go/src/internal/poll/sock_cloexec.go

Line 19 in 6e189af

// On Linux the accept4 system call was introduced in 2.6.28

go/src/syscall/exec_linux.go

Line 557 in e11d142

// pipe2 was added in 2.6.27 and our minimum requirement is 2.6.23, so it

go/src/syscall/syscall_linux.go

Line 212 in e11d142

// in 2.6.22, Released, 8 July 2007) then fall back to utimes

go/src/syscall/syscall_linux.go

Line 556 in e11d142

// Try accept4 first for Android, then try accept for kernel older than 2.6.28

go/src/runtime/internal/atomic/sys_linux_arm.s

Line 18 in e11d142

// On older kernels (before 2.6.24) the function can incorrectly

[rsc]

iant points out that timerfd was added in 2.6.25 and we probably want to depend on it for time.ExternalNow, so we should bump at least that far. And the examples show we could bump to at least 2.6.28 to simplify some code.

bradfitz points out that Synology 6.2 ships with 2.6.32.
CentOS 6 (out of support but clearly still used) is running 2.6.32 as well.

So maybe we should raise to 2.6.32, which will let us eliminate some very old things, keep some existing known use cases working, and seems not to add any known burden compared to newer versions.

Thoughts on raising to 2.6.32?

[OneOfOne]

That would clean all of checks in the go runtime except one that requires 4.5+, sounds good!

[mvdan]

Bumping fewer versions is certainly better than bumping none :) We can always revisit for a newer Linux version in a couple of years.

[andig]

bradfitz points out that Synology 6.2 ships with 2.6.32.
CentOS 6 (out of support but clearly still used) is running 2.6.32 as well.

So maybe we should raise to 2.6.32, which will let us eliminate some very old things, keep some existing known use cases working, and seems not to add any known burden compared to newer versions.

Thoughts on raising to 2.6.32?

I'm not a linux pro, but Synology 6.2.4 on my NAS shows:

admin@NAS:~$ uname -a
Linux NAS 4.4.59+ #25556 SMP PREEMPT Thu Mar 4 18:03:46 CST 2021 x86_64 GNU/Linux synology_apollolake_218+

Suggestions above seem to target on 3.10, is 2.6.32 really a requirement?

[rsc]

We know of users of Go programs built for Synology 6.2 using 2.6.32, and we know of users of CentOS 6 using 2.6.32.

Suggestions above seem to target on 3.10, is 2.6.32 really a requirement?

The clear downside of 3.10 over 2.6.32 is dropping support for those systems, where we know of real instances where Go is running today.

What is the upside of 3.10 over 2.6.32?

[rsc]

Retitled to specify 2.6.32. Does anyone object to this change?