CI: Remove `brctl` from Arch Linux container

[XEN PATCH] CI: Remove `brctl` from Arch Linux container

Posted by Anthony PERARD 1 month, 4 weeks ago

From: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>

Package "bridge-utils" have been removed from the official repos, it
contained `brctl`. That utility is used by network hotplug scripts,
but they already check if it is available and switch to use "iproute2"
(`ip`) when not.

Signed-off-by: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>
---
 automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile | 1 -
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile b/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
index 4e53c835fa..a257027772 100644
--- a/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
+++ b/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ LABEL maintainer.name="The Xen Project" \
 RUN pacman-key --init
 
 RUN pacman -S --refresh --sysupgrade --noconfirm --noprogressbar --needed \
-        bridge-utils \
         bzip2 \
         cpio \
         discount \
-- 
Anthony PERARD

Re: [XEN PATCH] CI: Remove `brctl` from Arch Linux container

Posted by Andrew Cooper 1 month, 4 weeks ago

On 13/02/2026 10:19 am, Anthony PERARD wrote:
> From: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>
>
> Package "bridge-utils" have been removed from the official repos, it
> contained `brctl`. That utility is used by network hotplug scripts,
> but they already check if it is available and switch to use "iproute2"
> (`ip`) when not.
>
> Signed-off-by: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>

Acked-by: Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>

Right now, README lists bridge-utils as a hard prereq, and this is not
true any longer.

iproute is also listed as a hard prereq.  Should we merge these two
lines with a logical or?

> ---
>  automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile | 1 -
>  1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile b/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
> index 4e53c835fa..a257027772 100644
> --- a/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
> +++ b/automation/build/archlinux/current.dockerfile
> @@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ LABEL maintainer.name="The Xen Project" \
>  RUN pacman-key --init
>  
>  RUN pacman -S --refresh --sysupgrade --noconfirm --noprogressbar --needed \
> -        bridge-utils \
>          bzip2 \
>          cpio \
>          discount \

If you're making this change, I'd like to dust off patch to convert to
heredoc and get both submitted together.

~Andrew

Re: [XEN PATCH] CI: Remove `brctl` from Arch Linux container

Posted by Anthony PERARD 1 month, 3 weeks ago

On Fri, Feb 13, 2026 at 11:58:06AM +0000, Andrew Cooper wrote:
> On 13/02/2026 10:19 am, Anthony PERARD wrote:
> > From: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>
> >
> > Package "bridge-utils" have been removed from the official repos, it
> > contained `brctl`. That utility is used by network hotplug scripts,
> > but they already check if it is available and switch to use "iproute2"
> > (`ip`) when not.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Anthony PERARD <anthony.perard@vates.tech>
> 
> Acked-by: Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>
> 
> Right now, README lists bridge-utils as a hard prereq, and this is not
> true any longer.
> 
> iproute is also listed as a hard prereq.  Should we merge these two
> lines with a logical or?

Well, iproute2 is an actual hard requirement, `ip` is used in many
places without alternative.

On the other end, `brctl` is optional, but will be used if exist. I
don't know which version of iproute2 is needed in order to not need
brctl anymore.

Cheers,

-- 
Anthony PERARD