No debug info in the kernel makes tools like systemtap worthless

There is a patch to the debbug to enable debug kernel images to be built. Can this be applied to the ubuntu kernel package? BenC?

debug info is available in newer kernels in the linux-image-debug package.
However at this time SystemTap requires a workaround to find the source:
similar to this:
ln -s vmlinux-dbg-2.6.20-15-generic vmlinux-2.6.20-15-generic
see bug 106957

Running an up to date Gutsy, my workflow was something like this
====================
$ uname -a
Linux omniscience 2.6.22-11-generic #1 SMP Mon Sep 17 03:45:58 GMT 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
$ sudo -i
# apt-get install linux-image-debug-`uname -r`
# mv vmlinuz-`uname -r`{,.old}
# ln -s vmlinux-debug-2.6.22-11-generic vmlinuz-2.6.22-11-generic

Make a boot entry for the .old (working) kernel after the end of the automagical debian kernels stanza in /boot/grub/menu.lst

# reboot

Make sure that the "new" symlinked kernel is selected in the grub menu and an error comes up something like:
Executeable format not recognized.

Booting the fallback kernel works as expected.

$ ll -h /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-11-*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 31 2007-09-18 12:18 vmlinuz-2.6.22-11-generic -> vmlinux-debug-2.6.22-11-generic
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.7M 2007-09-16 23:15 /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-11-generic.old

Note that ll is an alias for ls -al in my bashrc.
====================

The same problem occurs in Feisty. How can I fix this? The advice in bug #106957 doesn't work.

I am assigning this bug to the 'ubuntu-kernel-team' per their bug policy. For future reference you can learn more about their bug policy at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies .

The 18 month support period for Edgy Eft 6.10 has reached it's end of life. As a result, we are closing the linux-source-2.6.17 Edgy Eft kernel task.

Hardy Heron 8.04 was recently released. It would be helpful if you could test the new release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . You should be able to test your bug using the LiveCD. Please let us know your results. Thanks.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

> Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains.

The issue obviously remained.

linux-image-debug-2.6.x-386 packages is not automatically synchronized/rebuilt from latests kernel sources, and indeed bit-roted. So we've now a worthless "linux-image-debug-2.6.25-2-386" package, but no matching -debug for the current main kernel
(linux-image-2.6.27-7-generic as of now).

Could this problem be looked at so that oprofile, systemap, gdb on vmlinux, etc. could actually be used ? (ideally in such a way that this issue won't re-open everytime a new kernel is uploaded ?)

Thank you.

I think this bug report itself has bit-rotted somewhat.

I'm not sure what release this was originally reported against, but I believe Gutsy and Hardy had a linux-image-debug-generic metapackage that served this need. Then in Intrepid, things have regressed somewhat, and the necessary package exists but you have to install it manually, outside the APT package system. See http://sourceware.org/systemtap/wiki/SystemtapOnUbuntu and https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/+source/linux-meta/+bug/253904 for more up-to-date information.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.