"Donald J. Taylor" wrote:
> So now, I think I would like to upgrade my kernel (now that I know what
> one is) and have been studying all the information available at several
> locations. I downloaded and printed out the detailed instructions. I
> then check to find my kernel and guess what? It is not where it is
> supposed to be, at least not according to the documentation. Mine is
> in /proc/sys/kernel not /usr/src/linux. So much for the directions.
Why do you think you want to upgrade the kernel? No, I'm not trying to
be a quasi-psychoanalyst, just trying to understand. If you want to do
it just to have done it, that's one thing (and it might be best to wait
a while, until you know the OS better); if you need an upgraded kernel
for some reason, that's another issue.
In any case, what you found in /proc is not the same as what's supposed
to be in /usr/src/linux. The /proc filesystem is artificial, and
/proc/sys/kernel is what is actually running as the kernel on your
system--it's not a file, it's actually the kernel image in your
machine's memory. What's in /usr/src/linux is the kernel source code
(if you installed the kernel-source package). The kernel file on your
system is probably at /boot/vmlinuz-2.0.36-something.
Before proceeding, make sure you have a working boot disk, so if you
mess something up, you can still bring your system up. Don't ask me how
I know this.
To upgrade to 2.2.x, first go to one of the mandrake mirrors, in the
updates/kernel2.2 directory, and read (and print) the README file. Then
go to updates/kernel2.2/RPMS/updates, and download the packages that
README says you'll need--initscripts, linux_logo, modutils, mount,
net-tools, and util-linux are needed, and possibly others as well.
For the kernel itself, you have two options. First, you can download
kernel-2.2.5-5mdk.i386.rpm from updates/kernel2.2/RPMS/kernel, if you
just want to upgrade to 2.2.x, but don't want (or need) to compile a
whole new kernel. Second, if you need (or want) to compile the whole
thing from source (which I did), you can download the whole source
tarball from a local ftp.kernel.org mirror (it's about 12 megs; you'll
probably want linux-2.2.9.tar.gz unless you've installed bzip2 on your
system).
Once you've got all of that, install it, according to the directions
you've already downloaded.
I did not lose network services after upgrading (once I was able to get
the machine to boot at all--see my earlier post on this subject).
BTW, could you turn on line wrapping in your mail program? Thanks!
--
Dan Brown, KE6MKS, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good
with ketchup.
