Maintaining a Real-Time Stable Kernel - Techniques and Challenges

Explore the intricacies of maintaining a Real Time stable kernel in this informative conference talk by Steven Rostedt from VMware. Delve into the unique challenges of supporting PREEMPT_RT patches as they approach mainline integration. Learn about the differences between maintaining RT stable trees and normal vanilla stable trees, including the importance of understanding Real Time kernel functionality and identifying potential issues like priority inversion. Discover the tools, git techniques, and testing procedures essential for ensuring a fully functional RT stable kernel release. Gain insights into merging mainline stable into RT stable, handling conflicts, backporting RT patches, and using git cherry. Benefit from Rostedt's extensive experience as a kernel developer, PREEMPT_RT patch creator, and Ftrace maintainer to enhance your understanding of Real Time kernel maintenance.

Intro
Upstream Stable Releases
Real Time Stable Releases
Real Time Stable Process
Merging Mainline Stable into RT Stable
The Rebase Branch
Priority Inversion
Priority Inheritance is Hard
Disabling Preemption
Disabling Interrupts
Dealing with Conflicts (Easy)
Dealing with No Conflicts (hard)
Backporting RT patches
git cherry