Version `25.8.2` of kernel, dtb and/or header package on Armbian Ubuntu Noble break `zfs-dkms`

[Gunwoo Gim]

Version `25.8.2` of kernel, dtb and/or header package on Armbian Ubuntu Noble break `zfs-dkms` (I'm pretty sure kernel module `zfs` was not built with success)

 

I had to run:

```sh

 sudo apt install linux-image-current-meson64=25.8.1 linux-headers-current-meson64=25.8.1 linux-dtb-current-meson64=25.8.1 && sudo dpkg-reconfigure zfs-dkms

```

 

I couldn't look in to the problem, because I was busy doing something else when I was just upgrading every package on the system.

I had to prioritize quickly fixing it before another user arrives so I just reverted the suspicious packages (the three I mentioned in the title)

I can't look into the problem now either because the computer is not being used by me alone..

Edited October 24 by Gunwoo Gim

[The Tall Man]

I don't know if this relates, but I recently discovered an issue with a Debian Trixie file system package xfsprogs on the 25.8.1 edge kernel for the Orange PI 5 Plus:

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/55599-bug-report-armbian-edge-kernel-6164-xfsprogs-trixie-package-failure-to-start-low-memory-monitorservice/

 

[Gunwoo Gim]

Quote

 

I don't know if this relates, but I recently discovered an issue with a Debian Trixie file system package xfsprogs on the 25.8.1 edge kernel for the Orange PI 5 Plus:

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/55599-bug-report-armbian-edge-kernel-6164-xfsprogs-trixie-package-failure-to-start-low-memory-monitorservice/

 

 

I don't think that's a relevant issue. I couldn't `modprobe zfs` in my case.

[The Tall Man]

9 hours ago, Gunwoo Gim said:

I couldn't `modprobe zfs` in my case.

Modproble probes modules built into the kernel itself. An external package (other than the kernel itself) shouldn't affect it. If it was present via modprobe before, and not after, that isn't the zfs package, that would indicate a module that had been built into 25.8.1 kernel, then excluded from the  25.8.2 kernel build for some reason.

[Gunwoo Gim]

21 hours ago, The Tall Man said:

Modproble probes modules built into the kernel itself. An external package (other than the kernel itself) shouldn't affect it. If it was present via modprobe before, and not after, that isn't the zfs package, that would indicate a module that had been built into 25.8.1 kernel, then excluded from the  25.8.2 kernel build for some reason.

Some modules are not included in the kernel package by default. In my case I had to install zfs-dkms built upon Dynamic Kernel Module Support(DKMS).

The module gets rebuilt whenever I upgrade the kernel—I'm not sure exactly which package I have to upgrade first though, header? dtb?

 

Somehow the zfs module was not successfully built after I upgraded the kernel, its header files, and the device tree blobs.

Edited October 28 by Gunwoo Gim

[The Tall Man]

Oh, okay. I'm not familiar with DKMS. But if you're updating multiple packages at once, doesn't apt sort out which need to be done first and second, etc?

 

But if you're somehow rebuilding the kernel upon package installation, I'd install the headers package first - as those would be required for source-code level access.

 

As for the  devicetree blobs package, that just provides copies of those (already build) .dtb files to your /boot directory. But they're actually already included in the kernel package itself. The kernel package installs them to:

 

/usr/lib/linux-image-_______/

 

So on my Orange PI 5 Plus, the dtb directory from the latest kernel package is here:

/usr/lib/linux-image-6.18.0-rc3-edge-rockchip64/

 

Keeping the convention Armbian uses, instead of installing the redundant dtb package, I manually create two links to it in my /boot directory whenever I update the kernel (I have to do this for Debian-sourced kernels anyway):

cd /boot
ln -s /usr/lib/linux-image-6.18.0-rc3-edge-rockchip64 dtb-6.18.0-rc3-edge-rockchip64
ln -s /usr/lib/linux-image-6.18.0-rc3-edge-rockchip64 dtb

Just replace that kernel with whichever one you're using. And if you're booting via uboot, be sure the Armbian.txt remains up to date.

[The Tall Man]

I have seen kernel updates for my system since you began this thread. You could check for a latest update, and see if the issue self-corrects.

 

Do you know when the latest zfs-dkms package was updated? Perhaps it's just getting too out of sync with the kernels.

 

If all else fails, you can build the kernel yourself:

https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/

 

...and in the kernel config, be sure that zfs modules are included. From the kernel config screen, you can do a search for zfs, and see what comes up. If there are zfs modules available there, this would be a different approach that would probably replace the use of the zfs-dkms package.

[CryBaby]

What version of the kernel is being installed? As yet ZFS only supports up to 6.16.

[Gunwoo Gim]

On 10/29/2025 at 1:47 AM, CryBaby said:

What version of the kernel is being installed? As yet ZFS only supports up to 6.16.

The new kernel version was `6.12.55` and the previous one was `6.12.44`

Edited October 30 by Gunwoo Gim

[Gunwoo Gim]

19 hours ago, The Tall Man said:

Do you know when the latest zfs-dkms package was updated? Perhaps it's just getting too out of sync with the kernels.

Quote

$ apt show zfs-dkms
Package: zfs-dkms
Version: 2.3.4-1arter97~ubuntu24.04.1
Priority: optional
Section: contrib/kernel
Source: zfs-linux
Maintainer: Debian ZFS on Linux maintainers <pkg-zfsonlinux-devel@alioth-lists.debian.net>
Installed-Size: 18.7 MB
Provides: zfs-modules
Depends: dkms (>> 2.1.1.2-5), file, libc6-dev | libc-dev, lsb-release, python3-setuptools | python3-distutils | libpython3-stdlib, debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0
Recommends: zfs-zed, zfsutils-linux (>= 2.3.4-1arter97~ubuntu24.04.1), linux-libc-dev (<< 6.17~), linux-libc-dev (>= 4.18~)
Suggests: debhelper
Breaks: spl-dkms (<< 0.8.0~rc1)
Replaces: spl-dkms
Homepage: https://zfsonlinux.org/
Download-Size: 2,514 kB
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: http://apt.armbian.com noble/noble-utils arm64 Packages
Description: OpenZFS filesystem kernel modules for Linux
 OpenZFS is a storage platform that encompasses the functionality of
 traditional filesystems and volume managers. It supports data checksums,
 compression, encryption, snapshots, and more.
 .
 This DKMS package includes the SPA, DMU, ZVOL, and ZPL components of
 OpenZFS.

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19 hours ago, The Tall Man said:

If all else fails, you can build the kernel yourself:

I don't want to take that measure..