On 02/24/18 12:43, Stephen Morris wrote:
Thanks Ed. Is there any documentation anywhere on what each bit represents?
You mean other than the URL I've supplied at kernel.org and the comments within tainted.c ?
With bit 13 being set reflecting the loading of an unsigned module into a kernel supporting module signatures, is that because the kernel has been designed for secure boot, and will turning on secure boot resolve the signing issue?
Probably not, since 13 and 12 are probably a pair in your case.
Are all these taint messages, and all the reasons for a taint message being produced saying that if we have to build our own drivers into the kernel to be able to use our hardware, and hence put us into the situation of potentially not getting support for kernel defects if any are encountered, that we shouldn't be using linux?
No. It is just saying that in the unlikely event you run into a kernel problem and you want to report it you should first check to see if others have the problem and/or try to reproduce it a non-tainted environment. Like running whatever you thought caused the problem in a QEMU/KVM environment.
I don't think it is very likely that you're going to run into a kernel issue that needs reporting. I've never had a kernel crash except years ago when integrating the nVidia drivers was a DYI project.