Fixed: patch 022 produced apk-invalid kernel-module versions

[ispyisail]

Summary

Fixed: patches-generic/022-kernel_module_packages_include_kernel_checksum_in_version.patch produced kernel-module package versions that apk-tools 3 rejects as invalid. It has been removed — gargoyle #120 — and a regression guard added so it can't silently return.

Thanks to Lantis for flagging this while reviewing the 25.12 fork build ("APK hates non standard package naming. Was something done to fix this?").

The problem

Patch 022 appended -$(LINUX_VERMAGIC) — the kernel vermagic, a hex hash — to every kernel module's VERSION. So a kmod ended up versioned like:

kmod-crypto-cmac   6.12.94-r1-baf9420f9bd78ec51e3c0ae30308d28a

Under opkg this was harmless. Under apk it is not: apk-tools 3 enforces a strict version grammar, and the trailing -<hash> after -rN is not a valid version. On an apk-backed image, every kmod is therefore unaddressable.

Root cause, confirmed on hardware

Tested directly with apk's own validator on a real GL-MT6000 (apk-tools 3.0.5):

# apk version -c '6.12.94-r1-baf9420f9bd78ec51e3c0ae30308d28a'
  -> exit 1   (invalid)

# apk version -c '6.12.94-r1'
  -> exit 0   (valid)

apk cannot even sort two such versions that differ only by vermagic, so the property patch 022 was trying to provide — "treat a kmod as changed when the kernel changes" — does not actually function under apk anyway.

Why removing it is the correct fix

• Patch 022 is Gargoyle-original (carried since the 21.02 era). Stock OpenWrt's kmod VERSION line has no vermagic suffix, so removing the patch simply returns to upstream behaviour — the exact 6.12.x-rN form OpenWrt 25.12's own apk-based kmods use.

• The kernel-ABI safety is not provided by the VERSION string. It is provided by the untouched line directly above it:

  EXTRA_DEPENDS := kernel (=$(LINUX_VERSION)~$(LINUX_VERMAGIC)-r$(LINUX_RELEASE))
  

  which pins each kmod to its exact kernel ABI regardless of the version string. That guard is unchanged, so a kmod still cannot install against a mismatched kernel.

Validation

• Build: a full x86 build with the patch removed emits clean versions — kmod-*_6.12.94-r1_*.ipk, no hash — and builds successfully.
• Regression: full simulator suite 330/335 (baseline; the apk-backend phases pass), so the change breaks nothing functionally — it only relabels version strings, the .ko files are identical.
• Guard: a new simulator check (gargoyle-tools #17, T-APKB-12) asserts, using apk's own validator on the target, that every baked-in kmod version is apk-valid. It passed 12/12 with all 207 kmod versions valid. Before the fix, all 207 carry the vermagic suffix and fail — so a reintroduction would turn this red immediately.

This gap was previously invisible because the simulator exercised the apk backend's health but never validated kmod version strings against apk. That is now covered.

Status

Merged and validated. This will be in the next build.