On Saturday 01 December 2001 2:48 pm, dids wrote:

In the last episode on Saturday 01 December 2001 10:44 am, Jacek Boboli said:

...

just downloaded mandel's rpm and loaded it on my 7.1 pro : works fine at once ! (well, apparently,...).

I cant get mkinit_rd to work on it :(

oops mispelt well i struggled with 2.4.16 vanilla for a while. some compilation error and then went back to 2.4.16.suse and suddenly ok I hate it when that happens dids

On 1 Dec 2001, David Herman wrote:

OK I'm ready to take my next SuSE step. I want to upgrade my kernel.

I currently run SuSE 7.2 pro and have kept things pretty much updated (new rpms from SuSE, online updates, etc). I've been reluctant to upgrade my kernel and xFree86 as Linux is my main OS now.

I've read things about mk_initrd, cloneconfig etc and am currently looking through all of the documentation I can find.

That's great. Reading about it before actually doing it greatly decreases the risk of fuck-ups.

I have an athlon Athlon 700mhz cpu ATI all -in-Wonder128pro SB live value usr ISA hardware modem

I want to keep all of this working obviously.

So my questions are: 1) How do I backup my old kernel in case things go wrong?

When you setup your /etc/lilo.conf, you just add a couple of lines to be able to boot your new kernel. Leave everything else intact you will be able to boot as many kernels as you want (well, IIRC 26 or some number like that). I personally always keep 2 previous kernel versions, just in case. For example, although I boot 2.4.16 now (which I great, BTW), I still have 2.4.15 and 2.4.14 (which sucked for me, BTW).

2) Is it recommended to go with the Mantel rpm or should I bite the bullet and learn how to re-compile the kernel?

Well, going with the Mantel RPMs is the quickie way: no fuss, no mess. If you're happy, stick with it. If you're a performance junkie (like me), I always compile my own, making sure I don't enable something that increases my kernel boot time or memory. I have a 233MHz PI, so I have to worry, but you (w/ a 800MHz Athlon), don't.

3) If re-compile which sources should I get?

I download the official sources and patch appropriately.

4) I've noticed that Yast 2 has a kernel config interface. Does it open with the current settings (as installed originally) or some default config.

Sorry, I have no idea. -- Karol Pietrzak PGP KeyID: 3A1446A0

I found the 2.4.16 kernel the easiest kernel to install yet. Here's what I did. Downloaded and installed kernel 2.4.16.SuSE-2 from mirror.ac.uk mirror of SuSE. You can get it from ftp://ftp.suse.com under people/mantel/next/linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 Saved it in directory and copied (actually linked) it to /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 # cd /usr/src # tar Ixvf linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 [creates new directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE] # rm linux [removes old link] # ln -s linux-2.4.16.SuSE-2.tar.bz2 linux # cd /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE Now copy hidden file .config from original kernel directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.10.SuSE to new directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE and rename it to test-12.1.01 (no longer hidden ;-)). I think this is essentially what cloneconfig does. # make mrproper # make xconfig [needs to be done with root access] Load configurations from test-12.1.01, check, save and exit # make dep # make clean # make bzImage [takes a few minutes] # make modules # make modules_install [won't overwrite anything] copy bzImage from /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE/arch/i386/boot to /boot and rename vmlinuz-2.4.13 copy System.map from /usr/src/linux-2.4.16.SuSE to /boot and rename System.map-2.4.16 # mk_initrd -k "vmlinuz-2.4.16" -i "initrd-2.4.16" -s auto edit /etc/lilo.conf and change kernel to 2.4.16 (doesn't remove old kernel or modules) # lilo -b /dev/hda [installs lilo on a floppy. If it doesn't work, I still haven't lost anything] reboot (from floppy) This all worked without problems, except sound was lost (as expected). As root... # lilo [This time installs on hard disk] reboot and install alsa as follows... downloaded alsa-driver-0.5.12a (needed for 2.4.14+ kernels) to /usr/src/packages/SOURCES # cd /usr/src/packages/SOURCES # tar zxvf alsa-driver-0.5.12a.tar.gz # cd alsa-driver-0.5.12a and compiled... # modprobe soundcore (probably not needed) [root] # CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686" ./configure [Don't use the -march=i686 flag if you have an Athlon!] # make install [root] # ./snddevices [root] (probably not needed) All successful.

On Saturday 01 December 2001 01:27 pm, John Lamb wrote:

I found the 2.4.16 kernel the easiest kernel to install yet. Here's what I did.

---------------------------------snip------------------------------------------------

System.map-2.4.16 # mk_initrd -k "vmlinuz-2.4.16" -i "initrd-2.4.16" -s auto

on my system the -s auto flags for mk_initrd were not there (not shown in mk_initrd -h) I just ended up using everything except (-s auto) ---------------------------------snip------------------------------------------------

All successful.

Me Too! Hooray! Except for that one discrepency your instructions worked perfectly and were my main source of inspiration (along with the info that came with the kernel sources). My system has sound, connects to the net and prints as I expect. Thanks alot everyone for your help. dh

On Wed, Dec 05, 2001 at 04:10:06PM +0000, David Spencer wrote:

copied bzImage to /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.16 copied System.map to /boot/System.map-2.4.16

...

# mk_initrd -k "vmlinuz-2.4.16" -i "initrd-2.4.16" -s auto

When I run this I get: no initrd required; rmdir: too few arguments

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ because it is not defined in /etc/lilo.conf for that image.

...

edit /etc/lilo.conf and change kernel to 2.4.16 (doesn't remove old kernel or modules)

duplicated entry image=/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 label=vmlinuz

as image=boot/vmlinuz-2.4.16

^^^^ should be /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.16

root=/dev/hda7 label=vmlinuz-2.4.16

and placed it above the original so the new kernel should boot first.

Now when I run lilo I get: fatal: First boot sector doesn't have a valid LILO signature

Pretty weird. What is boot= set to in your lilo.conf? -Kastus

On Sat, 1 Dec 2001 09:44:29 -0800 David Herman wrote:

OK I'm ready to take my next SuSE step. I want to upgrade my kernel.

Hi David, I imagine that you will get a number of responses to your post. Mine will only be partial. The first question is *why* do you want to upgrade it? Do you know that 2.4.16 contains support for something you need and that is not supported in your existing kernel, or is it just a matter of interest? I am all in favour of interest, - that is why I upgrade - but if (like me), you use linux for your business, then you have to be aware that upgrading always has an element of risk that you may not need to run.

I currently run SuSE 7.2 pro and have kept things pretty much updated (new rpms from SuSE, online updates, etc). I've been reluctant to upgrade my kernel and xFree86 as Linux is my main OS now.

I use 7.0 pro - I do not think that anything I will say is invalidated by that, but you should know that I am not using a system identical to yours. Also, I run vanilla kernels, so I can't say anything helpful specifically with regard to SuSE kernels.

I've read things about mk_initrd, cloneconfig etc and am currently looking through all of the documentation I can find.

The discussion in Chapter 13 of my 7.0 pro manual is one of the best things I have read on kernel compilation.

I have an athlon Athlon 700mhz cpu ATI all -in-Wonder128pro SB live value usr ISA hardware modem

I want to keep all of this working obviously.

So my questions are: 1) How do I backup my old kernel in case things go wrong?

If 7.2 is the same as 7.0, then your existing kernel is boot and is called vmlinuz. You can backup that file to somewhere safe if you want, but the usual technique is to rename it to something like vmlinuz-old immediately before you install your new kernel under the name vmlinuz. With an appropriate entry in /etc.lilo.conf you can then choose between vmlinuz and vmlinuz-old at boot time. If your new kernel won't load, the old one should.

2) Is it recommended to go with the Mantel rpm or should I bite the bullet and learn how to re-compile the kernel?

It depends what you are looking for - see my preliminary comments. If it is a matter of needing to upgrade to get some new/improved functionality then I would go with the rpm. If you are doing this to learn and experiment then you will have to compile. You can always download a kernel to some safe directory and practice compiling there. There is, in fact, nothing hard about that process itself. The hard part is knowing what you are trying to achieve. The kernel .config is a complex thing. Print out your current SuSE .config and study it. Run "make menuconfig" a few times on your practice kernel and read the inavaluable help that the help screens offer. Finally, take special care to learn about modules. If you alter the modules in your kernel you will probably find that your /etc/modules.conf is no longer valid for your system. I found it *far* harder to reconstruct my modules than to work out what I wanted in a kernel.

3) If re-compile which sources should I get?

Again, it depends what you want. The distros do not employ kernel hackers for their looks. They use their expertise to improve the vanilla kernels released by Linus, and they have intimate knowledge of what will work best with their own distros. I am perfectly prepared to believe that SuSE kernels are better than vanilla kernels. Having said that, I run vanilla kernels because I take an interest in kernel development and I know that what I am seeing on my own system is precisely what the developers are dealing with. You do, however, have to bear in mind that even "stable" vanilla kernels have not been comprehensively tested and may contain errors. There was a scare last week when the new 2.4.15 contained an error which might cause file system corruption. This led to a debate about quality control. Someone said in the course of that debate that *everyone* who runs a vanilla kernel is a linux developer, and if they do not like it they should stick with the distros. I think that there is truth in that, but for people like me (with about 1% of the understanding that a real kernel developer has), to say that I am a kernel developer is like saying that a rat in a maze is a psychology researcher. Nevertheless, it *is* fun.

4) I've noticed that Yast 2 has a kernel config interface. Does it open with the current settings (as installed originally) or some default config.

Sorry I don't know about that.

Thanks for your patience and help dh

Have a lot of fun. Regards, Geoff _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

If you are afraid to mess things up then don't do it! What I do not see here in your mail is _WHY_ you want to upgrade your kernel? If you just want to learn and play with these things, do it on a system you care nothing about. Installing a SuSE RPM Kernel is quite easy: rpm -Uvh k_i386xxxx.rpm mk_initrd lilo init 6 For roll your own make menuconfig select all your options and save .config make clean && make modules && make modules_install && make bzlilo bzlilo calls mk_initrd, lilo, and moves the new kernel, but you should check that, I have not looked in a while Regards, Jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Herman" To: Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2001 9:44 AM Subject: [SLE] 2.4.16 kernel (newbie fear)

OK I'm ready to take my next SuSE step. I want to upgrade my kernel.

I currently run SuSE 7.2 pro and have kept things pretty much updated (new rpms from SuSE, online updates, etc). I've been reluctant to upgrade my kernel and xFree86 as Linux is my main OS now.

I've read things about mk_initrd, cloneconfig etc and am currently looking through all of the documentation I can find.

I have an athlon Athlon 700mhz cpu ATI all -in-Wonder128pro SB live value usr ISA hardware modem

I want to keep all of this working obviously.

So my questions are: 1) How do I backup my old kernel in case things go wrong?

2) Is it recommended to go with the Mantel rpm or should I bite the bullet and learn how to re-compile the kernel?

3) If re-compile which sources should I get?

4) I've noticed that Yast 2 has a kernel config interface. Does it open with the current settings (as installed originally) or some default config.

Thanks for your patience and help dh

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