“your actual contribution to gentoo project is now pure shit!”

Ah, the life of a package maintainer. As far as controversial figures go, we probably rank somewhere under florist and nowhere near politician. Update software, back-port patches, submit patches upstream, stay on top of critical bugs and all of this in a Linux Distribution that has seen a decline in popularity. How much hate could I possibly stir up ?

Apparently, for one person, quite a lot. Living a pretty reserved life, I have never before experienced a real or implied threat. Note that I do drive on American roads, so I’m know people have expressed displeasure with my driving at points in the past, but nothing beyond normal, and nothing that I can recall short of a middle finger or two.

The below shows an exchange with an individual who apparently has a concerning sense of entitlement for the kind of work guarantees he receives from no cost software maintained by a volunteer who has never, and still does not, receive enumeration of any kind.

Stay safe everyone.

Note: The only editing I did was to fix the flow or add a comment to make it easier to read since this person likes to top post.

On Friday, July 26, 2024 at 12:43:26 PM GMT+2, Max Dubois
makemehappy@rocketmail.com wrote:

Hello,

According with this bug in bugzilla:

219061 – Memory leaks on vmalloc crash every 32 bit kernel after a
commit in 6.6.24 branch
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219061

219061 – Memory leaks on vmalloc crash every 32 bit kernel after
a

    commi...

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219061

Evey kernel.org (pure X86 platform) is serious bugged after 6.6.23,
also Gentoo (my preferred distro) has the bug so you should,
eventually after try the bug yourself, mark 6.6.23 in Green, becouse
all the others listed in the gentoo kernel-source page got the bug
(and obviously also the kernel-bin packages too).

The bug is a memory leak that produce vmalloc errors on machines
using highmem (>1024 MB) and this like explained in the bugzilla
will crash very fast a running machine destroying bowser tabs,
preventing for opening apps, terminals and so on).

To reproduce the bug is very easy:

build, if you don’t always have it, an x86 virtual machine and
configure it with 4 GB of ram, Virtualbox or VMware is the same,

Boot it with any kernel (gentoo or kernel.org or every kernel) over
6.6.23 (the last working). The machine will boot fine and it seems
to work as expected. Open a terminal and run a logging program (I
like metalog) and then start to use it to run apps, open a firefox
browser, some other terminals. Open some tabs on browser and look at
the logs. In minutes you will get messages like this and others in
the log, probably some kernel oops too:

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 24576
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:37 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:42 debian1232vm kernel: alloc_vmap_area: 104 callbacks
suppressed

Jul 24 17:04:42 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:42 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:42 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

Jul 24 17:04:42 debian1232vm kernel: vmap allocation for size 20480
failed: use vmalloc= to increase size

The running kernel s a brand new 32 bit 6.10.1 downloaded from
kernel.org and compiled.

Increasing the vmallOn Friday, July 26, 2024 at 12:43:26 PM GMT+2, Max Dubois
makemehappy@rocketmail.com wrote:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1169951.html
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-1169951.html

X86 is no more widely used then if we say we maintain compatibility
with x86 systems this bug has to be fixed and the Gentoo kernel x86
shouldn’t have anything called stable after 6.6.23.

Regards from sunny italy to a fellow “paisano” like you probably are
🙂

Max

PS: grateful for any feedback for my e-mail to you and for any
eventually fix.

---

Note from Mike: So this was right before a business trip, and I’m not a great flyer, so I was mentally focused on getting through that trip. Got to fly home in a Tropical Storm. Yay.

---

Second email from my new fan:

Il giorno 23 ago 2024, alle ore 15:27, Mike Pagano
mpagano@gentoo.org ha scritto:

On 8/22/24 18:41, Max Dubois wrote:

Hello mr. Pagano,

After quietly one month of no reply and no action, I can see you
ignored my previous mail.

That is not a good service for the Gentoo community, you still serve
to Gentoo 32 bit kernel like all after 6.6.23 (gentoo or not gentoo)
without even a comment. And make it even greeen!

There is a bug and that bug not allow any use of the 32 bit system
when > 1 GB memory is installed in the system and this bug is
recognised by the kernel.org developers (if not they probably had
closed the ticket in the kernel.org bug section, don’t you think
so?).

Now, I’m aware 32 bit systems are not used anymore, then it is not
serious from Gentoo and in this case from a good paisano like you
are, do nothing to inform people related to the gentoo-sources
branch you maintain.

This is not a good service to the community and I’m sad this is done
by an italian like you! 🙂

As a true italian and good friend of many paisani like you, I think
you should act in some way to inform Gentoo user base about this
problem. Obviously do your tests before, you should if you still
didn’t them silently.

I know, you are a busy man, then it is simply not serious to act
like this.

BTW, I’ve been also waiting for your reply to my previous e-mail
then you ignored my concise and very precise mail to you. Many guys
in the kernel.org kernel list were interested and contacted me, but
you, mr. “not interested” Pagago.

Mr. Pagano, people in wonderful Campania, the region where your
blood come from, don’t act like this! You are probably from small
Frignano, I visited it and it is a wonderful little village, and
Caserta and his reggia is so fantastic (I hope your visited it,
lotsa real americans visit it, so someone from USA – with roots
there – should come to visit!) and I also had a girlfriend years ago
from there (southern italian girls are the best and the prettiest
all around).

Back in subject, please do something for this problem, don’t fool
gentoo users and gentoo tree.

Ciao paisano!

MD

PS: I want escalate the problem if you don’t want to take any action
and act silently. Gentoo users don’t deserve a maintainer not
pointing out if not solving problems in the package they maintain.

---

My Reply

On 8/23/24 15:27, Mike Pagano wrote:
We do not hold up stabilization for bugs that impact such a small niche of users.
If we accommodated all of these kinds of requests, no kernel would ever be stable.
Good luck with your issue. In the future, keep your emails to me technical and exclude
references to my nationality, real or imagined.

Mike Pagano

---

Note from Mike: This has been true for the nearly 17 years I have been maintaining the Kernel in Gentoo. Sometimes people have hardware failures, sneak in a proprietary driver, who knows. But unless it impacts a large subset of people, we don’t hold up stabilization. Plus, this particular stabilization was for a root exploit.

---

On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 06:59:45PM +0200, Max Dubois wrote:

You like it technical fellow Michele? Here it is!

I forgot this and this is valid for kernel.org guys too.

I wrote it in the bug notes too when someone asked me to fix this!

First of all I’m not a developer, you can call me an advanced user,
second for someone that always have a developer machine with a local
copy of github kernel.org is a lot simple to bisecting the kernel
compared to me I don’t need such a blob on my machines!!!

Thankx to me, you guys all knows the bug happen between 6.6.23
(working) and 6.6.24 (not working).

You guys patch the kernel all the time so it isn’t complicated at all
bisecting the kernel to find the culprit modification bug that
introduced the problem.

You, dear Michele, maintain gentoo sources, you should have all the
tools around to do that and serve the community!

Inviato da iPhone

---

Another reply….

---

Il giorno 23 ago 2024, alle ore 18:39, Max Dubois
makemehappy@rocketmail.com ha scritto:

You should proud to be italian, mr. Pagano!

And I bet you also speak some broccolino and you should proud of that
too…

New York, New Jersey that is the broccolino nation and we, from the
real thing, we love you all… 🙂 and i’m sorry you guys, your
ancestors, been forcing to left such a fantastic place like Italy for
such a shitty place, horrible weather, no history, poor quality life
New York, New Jersey allways offered, not talking about how this places
are adter covid panthomine😂

Tou should move in California if you can 🙂

And yes this bug just impact a small percentual of users then it is
just becouse just few people are 32 bit now! This doesn’t mean that not
all the 32 bit aren’t buggy for ALL the 32 bit users and it still seems
incredible to me you ignore that and act if the problem is not there.

It is not a not working driver, it is the WHOLE system, all the 32 bir
linux systems, real or virtual, crashing after boot, in minutes!!!

Ciao fratello Michele, stammi bene!

MD (from a beach in the Pontine Islands named Ponza)

[1]945 Isola Di Ponza Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and Images
[2]gettyimages.it
[3]

---

My last Reply

On 8/23/24 19:26, Mike Pagano wrote:

Do not contact me any further

---

Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2024 20:57:04 +0200
From: Max Dubois makemehappy@rocketmail.com

Lol

You are sooo conceited! I saw a picture of you and you look exactly like some good men fron the area of naples!!! You could be a great pizzaiolo or a great mafia man, choose you if you prefer to be around the shitty jersey or the fantastic costiera amalfitana 😍 (pizza in your area even if they call it ITALIANA is pure shit) you look perfect for a new soprano serie and believe me all this is a big compliment to you!!!

Ciao michelino, alla prossima!

PS: your actual contribution to gentoo project is now pure shit! You shouldn’t mark green buggy kernel (everything over 6.6.23), you are completeky not honest with the community and even with yourself. And a broccolino like you shouls behave better also professionaly! You should let your gentoo-soirces commitment becouse you fail.