Gentoo Packages

pf-sources: -r70 curated patch design and tracking commitment

Posted: 2026-05-06 by Ivan S. Titov | Revision: 1
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2.0
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.1_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.2_p7-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.3_p5-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.4_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.5_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.6_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.7_p7-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.8_p9-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.9_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.10_p4-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.11_p4-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.12_p4-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.13_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.14_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.15_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.16_p5-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.17_p4-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.18_p6-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-6.19_p5-r70
Display if installed:
=sys-kernel/pf-sources-7.0_p2-r70
You are running a pf-sources -r70 ebuild. This news item explains the -r70 design and the tracking commitment for your branch.

== Design ==

The pf-sources -r70 ebuilds in this overlay track linux-stable via Gentoo's genpatches, with a curated subset of natalenko's pf-kernel patchset on top. CVE-2026-31431 (the "Copy Fail" algif_aead LPE) and other linux-stable-fixed CVEs are picked up via the genpatches stable chain on every -r70 — no separate patch is needed. This is fundamentally different from the unrevisioned and -r1 / -r2 pf-sources ebuilds, which apply natalenko's full patchset to vanilla v6.X.0 with no linux-stable backports.

For each -r70 slot, the curated subset retains pf features that are genuinely additive (BBRv3, x86 ISA-level helpers, zstd library updates, DDCCI / DDCCI-backlight, AMD-pstate enhancements, syscall.tbl additions, mm/include hooks) and drops pf changes that conflict with linux-stable backports or that gentoo-sources has already addressed (kernel/sched core/fair/rt, top-level arch/x86/Kconfig, "minor fixes" already landed in stable).

Each -r70 ebuild's pkg_postinst message lists exactly which pf features are retained on that slot and which are dropped, with reasons.

== Tracking commitment by branch ==

  • Active branches (currently 6.18, 6.19, 7.0) — while natalenko continues to ship pf releases and linux-stable continues to ship point releases, the -r70 is re-cut on each genpatches bump. The curated pf delta usually carries forward; the gentoo-sources base shifts.


  • LTS branches (currently 6.1, 6.6, 6.12) — natalenko has moved on but linux-stable continues for years. The pf delta is frozen at the last pf release for the branch; the -r70 is regenerated against each new genpatches release for the lifetime of upstream's stable maintenance.


  • EOL branches (the 14 non-LTS slots 6.2-6.5, 6.7-6.11, 6.13-6.17) — linux-stable has stopped. The -r70 is frozen at the last genpatches release on that branch. No further updates; future security work happens on a still-active branch.


== References ==

  • Per-slot retained / dropped breakdown: each -r70 ebuild's pkg_postinst message.
  • https://pfkernel.natalenko.name/
  • https://dev.gentoo.org/~alicef/genpatches/