Kernel

http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/03/1624200&tid=156&tid=106

KernelTrap has a summary of a lengthy discussion on the Linux kernel mailing list, in which Linus Torvalds has suggested using an alternative numbering scheme for kernel development. The current 2.6 kernel has been different than older development trees, as active development has been happening at a rapid rate in the officially "stable" kernel, instead of forking the expected 2.7 "development branch" for this effort. In Linus' latest proposal, he suggests using the same odd and even arrangement where an odd number signifies a development release, and an even number signifies a stable release. The difference being that this will all happen under 2.6 and thus at a much more rapid rate. For example, the upcoming 2.6.12 release would focus on fixing bugs and thus be more stable, while the following 2.6.13 release would include new functionality and thus could be less stable.

In /boot/grub/menu.lst, duplicate from

to

documented on: 2006.07.10

Exactly

Exactly

But, I for one prefer _not_ to upgrade my kernel packages automatically, so I install the next version whenever I choose to. Which more and more makes sense to me, as the newest 2.6 kernels seem to have some stability issues at the moment, so I am happily running 2.6.7-1-686-smp…

Andreas Rippl

LOL. Guess you were too curious to wait for answers and just jumped into the pond :)

Now, there has been a change in module-init-tools between 2.4 and 2.6, the "routing" can be done with links in /etc/alternatives (depending upon which kernel, proper module loading/module config files are chosen). You will want the kernel source and at least configure it, to be able to work with things like nvidia drivers, vmware and many more.

Walter Mautner

mike holden <everythingzenned@yahoo.com> writes:

You might have to:

if that loads a card driver you can then:

you could add that to /etc/modules

The 2.6.8 debian kernel is highly modularized so nerally everything *should* be availble as a module. Trouble is, if you were using a compiled in driver before the module won't get loaded automatically.

As for your pointer problem you might have to:

and then see what happens. If it works you could add that to /etc/modules as well.

Nic Ferrier

No, just the source. The header package is there so that you can compile stuff that includes kernel headers without having the full kernel source installed.

It'll either complain or bugger things up :-) (Why would you want to?)

Pigeon

NB,

This might be optional. You can also upgrade between 2.4.xx releases by patching. Patches are distributed in the traditional gzip and the new bzip2 format. To install by patching, get all the newer patch files, enter the top level directory of the kernel source (linux-2.4.xx) and execute:

The script patch-kernel can be used to automate this process. It determines the current kernel version and applies any patches found.

The first argument in the command above is the location of the kernel source. Patches are applied from the current directory, but an alternative directory can be specified as the second argument.

Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around:

You should now have the sources correctly installed.

Kernel package by itself does not create any configuration file (.config); it uses whatever you have. You can use your current version made for you machine by copying it over from /boot/config-Y.Y.YY, like so:

cp /boot/config-* linux/.config

Kernel package by itself does not create any configuration file (.config); it uses whatever you have. Do a "make config" to configure the basic kernel and generate this configuration file.

Alternatively, use "make xconfig", which is X windows based configuration tool. Exit and save your configuration. This will create a hidden file named ".config" in your current "/usr/local/src/linux" directory. You could edit this file directly to make changes to your configuration, but I wouldn't. All that this step has done is to set up this configuration file. This file is read by the actual kernel compilation process to compile the options you've specified.

Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor version. New configuration options are added in each release, and odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up as expected.

Alternatively, you can use your current version made for you machine by copying it over from /boot/config-Y.Y.YY,

If you want to carry your existing configuration to a new version with minimal work, use "make oldconfig", which will default all questions based on the contents of your existing ./.config file, and only ask you for the answers to new questions.

Finally, do a "make dep" to set up all the dependencies correctly.

Use the command "make-kpkg clean; make-kpkg kernel_image". This will cause a bunch of grinding and text; details omitted.

This step is a Debian-way of compiling the kernel. The "other" way is to do it manually, which consists of several steps such as "make dep" and "make modules" and "make modules_install" and manually finding and moving the kernel to where it needs to be and setting up symlinks and configuring lilo.conf and running lilo.

I'm preparing my Debian kernel-source so that I can compile my pctel modem driver.

I've done the kernel-source-preparing before in RedHat, basically:

But when I compile my pctel modem driver, I get the "no modversions.h file found" error:

Install the 'kernel-header-<version>-1-<arch>' package, where:

<version> is the version of your kernel, and <arch> is the architecture type, be it 386,486, etc.

Also, I recommend you install 'build-essential'.

When you're lost again, use 'apt-cache search kernel-header | less' if you find the name of the package to be elusive.

Thomas Adam

Problem solved. Just for the archive, Installing kernel-headers is not enough, I need to install kernel-source and "prepare the kernel source".

T