Kernel security (project archive)

The information in this article is representative of former times and has been archived. It can be used for reference, but is most likely not appropriate for current usage. Generally, archived articles should not be edited.

The Gentoo security audit project handled patching the Linux kernel sources and informing users about global kernel security status. The aim of the project was also to audit Gentoo kernel's for potential flaws.

Kernel sources

Supported kernel sources

Kernel source	Security liaison
gentoo-sources	Gentoo Kernel project
gentoo-kernel, gentoo-kernel-bin	Distribution Kernel project

Unsupported Kernel sources

Kernel source	Security liaison
git-sources	Mike Pagano (mpagano)
mips-sources	Joshua Kinard (kumba)
pf-sources	Joonas Niilola (juippis)
raspberrypi-sources	Sam James (sam)
rt-sources	Arisu Tachibana (Alicef)
vanilla-sources	Agostino Sarubbo (ago) , Gentoo Kernel project

Making a new kernel source

Adding a new kernel source into the main Gentoo repository is not recommended by the Gentoo Kernel Security project unless it is a kernel source that could be used by a wide number of users. Please end consideration here and simply use an overlay to distribute custom or one-off kernel sources.

If you do believe that it is, you must be willing to become the security maintainer. Being the security maintainer for a kernel source means being willing to devote a significant amount of time to closing security bugs for that kernel source. Additionally, you must take care that your kernel source never falls into hard masking. If it does, your kernel source will automatically lose Gentoo Security support, and may be subject to removal from the repository.