On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:13:01PM -0700, Rob Thornton wrote:
> This is my second time through LFS. The first with LFS 6.3 and now
> through LFS SVN. I have a couple questions on installing and configuring
> the Linux kernel...
>
> 1) When enabling ALSA support, should the LFS book not recommend that
> the card drivers be loaded as modules so when updated versions of the
> ALSA source are installed the kernel can load them rather than remaking
> a new kernel?
>
> 2) If, for example, the existing kernel only supports ALSA 1.0.13 (for
> kernel 2.6.22.5 in LFS6.3), but the current ALSA source version is
> 1.0.17...Will the current kernel support modules for the latest ALSA
> version or, does that leave me with upgrading the kernel? If so, why
> even bother making these drivers modular with separate source? For minor
> revisions only?
>
You build alsa more often than you compile kernels ? Each to his
own (I compile kernels often, but my desktop only gets updated for
new features I think will be useful, or for known vulnerabilities).
Distros usually make everything modular so that they can support
most hardware, I don't know if upgrading userspace alsa requires a
newer kernel - I suppose it might do occasionally, but distros can
enforce that.
> 3a) If a new kernel should not be installed with previous version
> headers (an upgrade from 2.6.27.2 to 2.6.27.4 or 2.6.26.x to 2.6.27.x,
> for example), and the installed kernel headers should be the ones that
> gcc and binutils were compiled against...do I need to reinstall the
> kernel and toolchain from scratch or the entire system a la LFS?
>
> 3b) To upgrade the kernel...is it as simple as installing new kernel
> headers, recompiling the toolchain against the new headers, then
> installing a new kernel?
>
> 3c) How do other distributions get around this? Like Debian or Ubuntu,
> which install new kernel images without updating the toolchain? Are they
> just foolish or have I missed something completely?
>
> Rob Thornton
Yes, I think you've missed the important thing ;) The kernel
headers are what glibc was compiled against, and they should not be
changed unless you upgrade glibc [ and before anyone misconstrues
that, we *don't* support upgrading glibc - when the time comes,
build a new system ].
To upgrade the kernel -
(i) Unpack the source. If you are working from the original
tarball (e.g. from 2.6.22.5 to 2.6.27.4)
- *revert* the original 'stable' patch (patch-2.6.22.5) to get back
to Linus's release
- apply the patches for each of his releases (patch-2.6.2{3,4,5,6})
- apply the current 'stable' patch (patch-2.6.27.4)
I'm spelling this out because some people don't realise that stable
patches are always applied against Linus's release - in the same
way, when 2.6.27.5 comes out you first revert patch-2.6.27.4.
Of course, you can download the tarball for linux-2.6.27.4 if you
prefer.
(ii) Configure it, commonly by 'zcat /proc/config.gz >.config ; make
oldconfig'.
(iii) make ; make modules_install ; cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage
/boot/this-new-kernel [ or whatever, on other architectures ] ;
mae sure that the bootloader knows about it (edit menu.lst for
grub).
- That's all.
ĸen
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