On Sun, 18 Apr 2004, Anders Johansson wrote:
To: suse-security@suse.com From: Anders Johansson
Subject: Re: [suse-security] Kernel source not matching kernel update On Sunday 18 April 2004 18:31, suse@rio.vg wrote:
I have not, but I am using SuSE 9.0, which had the two versions matching. Also, I don't run 'make cloneconfig' and whatnot when upgrading the kernel. As I understand it, NVIDIA's kernel installer should be able to compile without kernel sources, but I could be wrong about that.
The official suse kernels ship with a precompiled kernel 'glue', so all the installer has to do is link it with the proprietary stuff. It doesn't compile anything, and as you say doesn't require the kernel source.
Thanks for your reply Anders. QUOTE FROM THE NVIDIA README ( ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-5336/README ) --- snip --- KERNEL INTERFACES The NVIDIA kernel module has a kernel interface layer which must be compiled specifically for the configuration and version of the kernel you are running. NVIDIA distributes the source code to this kernel interface layer, as well as a precompiled version for many of the kernels distributed by some popular distributions. When the installer is run, it will determine if it has a precompiled kernel interface for the kernel you are running. If it does not have one, it will check if there is one on the NVIDIA ftp site (assuming you have an internet connection), and download it. If a precompiled kernel interface is found that matches your kernel, then that will be linked[1] against the binary portion of the NVIDIA kernel module. The result of this operation will be a kernel module appropriate for your kernel. If no matching precompiled kernel interface is found, then the installer will compile the kernel interface for you. However, first it will check that you have the correct kernel headers installed on your system. If the installer must compile the kernel interface, then you must install the kernel-sources package for your kernel. --- snip --- UNQUOTE When I use the nvidia-installer it always compiles the nvidia kernel-driver interface for me, as no other options are found, even though I use the standard SuSE 8.1 k_deflt kernel. Kind Regards - Keith Roberts