Re: kernel upgrade options - follow-up
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- On Mon, 18 Oct 1999, John wrote: Are you sure you're not confusing the kernel headers in /usr/include/linux with the actual kernel source tree that is usually placed in /usr/src/linux? I may well be, but what is certain is that /usr/src contains only one directory and that is RedHat/ (this presumably because I elected to install rpm and its dependency in my original install). Yes, i believe the rpm package puts that directory there. I'd recommend using alien to install rpm packages instead of rpm, if you must install rpms at all. Could the fact that I have a kernel on the floppy from which I boot have any bearing? A kernel source tree is not technically necessary to run a Linux system, so it doesn't surprise me that one isn't installed. Debian provides the necessary headers for normal programming in the libc6-dev package (which every few months someone complains about, and several people then point that person to the various explanations of why Debian does this (one of the best is in kernel-package, installed to /usr/share/kernel-package/README.headers)) Again, many thanks for your kind and clear help - there's much peripherally for me to try and 'take on board'. No problem, that's the purpose of this list (: - -- finger for PGP public key. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBOAuzHL7M/9WKZLW5AQEm6AP9E4VvcY5qjvxLYkFK1YbfUPfdAODHFx8x OgBf+iWsGkvG/Dnt2DPel8BJ7nNwkt/BCsI6XwMK/NSGFIHRyVKuWZ1fG80VUJ/H eF94i67j3eSgi8tW0kTBI9Qqe/1VULtGbV6Ba0rAiPw/L93N077dsL3hPiEMuEY/ kdLFCfg1Bfk= =TAd+ -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: kernel upgrade options - follow-up
on 17 Oct 99, Brad wrote...(inter alia)... Please put plank lines between the quoted text and replies, it makes things easier to find On Sun, 17 Oct 1999, John wrote: According to the Howto the kernel should be in /usr/src/linux - it seems to be in /usr/include/linux/2.0.36 on my box. Odd... What i'd recommend is to put the kernel into /usr/src/linux-version (where version is the version number, e.g. 2.2.7), and symlink /usr/src/linux to that directory. I've rechecked and it is in /usr/include with many .h files and some directories for example dpkg. Should the symlink be to /usr/include? Are you sure you're not confusing the kernel headers in /usr/include/linux with the actual kernel source tree that is usually placed in /usr/src/linux? I may well be, but what is certain is that /usr/src contains only one directory and that is RedHat/ (this presumably because I elected to install rpm and its dependency in my original install). Could the fact that I have a kernel on the floppy from which I boot have any bearing? Again, many thanks for your kind and clear help - there's much peripherally for me to try and 'take on board'. On the main problem, I now feel able to attempt to get up to kernel 2.2.7 by using 2.2.1 from the CD and then getting the patches via ftp. I will let you know how things have gone in due course. It may take a little while as I like to plan and move slowly, which I can do as time is not a factor to me. Regards, John.
Re: kernel upgrade options - follow-up
on 16 Oct 99, Brad wrote... On Sat, 16 Oct 1999, John wrote: It seems an opportunity to upgrade to 2.2.7, and etc, etc i'd recommend 2.2.12 (the latest), although 2.2.7 might be my second choice. I've now discovered that my Debian CD-ROM contains kernel-source- 2.2.1 under the devel directory. Can I not use this? I'd like to avoid a long download (approx 70mins I believe) until I have some experience. If this is safe perhaps I can gain experience by then patching to 2.2.7 or 2.2.12. According to the Howto the kernel should be in /usr/src/linux - it seems to be in /usr/include/linux/2.0.36 on my box. Odd... What i'd recommend is to put the kernel into /usr/src/linux-version (where version is the version number, e.g. 2.2.7), and symlink /usr/src/linux to that directory. I've rechecked and it is in /usr/include with many .h files and some directories for example dpkg. Should the symlink be to /usr/include? Much is written about the benefits of being able to compile to ones exact needs, etc, etc This is one of the parts it's hard for us to help you with, because it depends on what hardware you have in your computer and what you plan on doing with it. For example, if you have no SCSI, disable SCSI support (except in a few cases). If you have no IDE drives, disable all that. Look at which modules you use (in modconf, probably) as a good indication of some of the features you should keep. And, on the other hand, you can probably remove the modules that you never use from the kernel. And whan in doubt, go with what you have in your present kernel. I should be alright on this when I'm sure how to remove unwanted modules, do I just use the rm command - i.e. are the kernel files just ordinary files for this purpose? Yet again, 2.2.7.tar.gz is 13M of I know not what etc, etc You just download the one big source package, even the files you don't need. It's a bit inconvienient (especially if you have to pay per MB), but it's generally felt that it would be more confusing and inconvienient to make separate tarballs for everything... Fine, I follow that. As I have CD-ROMS for RedHat and SuSE, could I use one of these? you probably could, but i'm not sure you'd want to... Is this to preserve the philosophical purity of Debian? If so I agree and understand, but feel a short cut might be acceptable in the early stages of learning. I could also bring over Pine and Netscape which I badly need on Debian for surfing, mail etc. As a final note, check out the kernel-package package. It'll make a deb that you can install with dpkg, that will properly install the modules, help you a little with lilo, and various other random things it's easy to forget. I've been unable to locate kernel-package so far. Incidentally, as I have the three Linux distributions on the disk at the moment, I boot from floppies - I presume there will be the option to make a new disk during the install/config when I do start. I'm most grateful that you have taken the time to respond with help. This to me is a significant reason for preferring to end up with Debian (I've long taken for granted my computer will no longer crash!! That's acceptance not ingratitude). Regards, John.
Re: kernel upgrade options - follow-up
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Please put plank lines between the quoted text and repies, it makes things easier to find On Sun, 17 Oct 1999, John wrote: I've now discovered that my Debian CD-ROM contains kernel-source- 2.2.1 under the devel directory. Can I not use this? I'd like to avoid a long download (approx 70mins I believe) until I have some experience. If this is safe perhaps I can gain experience by then patching to 2.2.7 or 2.2.12. You can. The reason to use a later version is just that later versions have fixes for bugs, and some minor improvements. (However, don't get 2.2.9 (IIRC), that one added some bugs while removing them ;) Feel free to use it if you want to. And when patching, remember that to go from 2.2.1 to 2.2.7 you have to apply the patches 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, and 2.2.7 in that order. ;) According to the Howto the kernel should be in /usr/src/linux - it seems to be in /usr/include/linux/2.0.36 on my box. Odd... What i'd recommend is to put the kernel into /usr/src/linux-version (where version is the version number, e.g. 2.2.7), and symlink /usr/src/linux to that directory. I've rechecked and it is in /usr/include with many .h files and some directories for example dpkg. Should the symlink be to /usr/include? Are you sure you're not confusing the kernel headers in /usr/include/linux with the actual kernel source tree that is usually placed in /usr/src/linux? This is one of the parts it's hard for us to help you with, because it depends on what hardware you have in your computer and what you plan on doing with it. For example, if you have no SCSI, disable SCSI support (except in a few cases). If you have no IDE drives, disable all that. Look at which modules you use (in modconf, probably) as a good indication of some of the features you should keep. And, on the other hand, you can probably remove the modules that you never use from the kernel. And whan in doubt, go with what you have in your present kernel. I should be alright on this when I'm sure how to remove unwanted modules, do I just use the rm command - i.e. are the kernel files just ordinary files for this purpose? When you configure the kernel using make config, make menuconfig, or make xconfig, you'll have the option to include (compiled in or as modules) or exclude many features. You probably shouldn't use rm in the /lib/modules directories... As I have CD-ROMS for RedHat and SuSE, could I use one of these? you probably could, but i'm not sure you'd want to... Is this to preserve the philosophical purity of Debian? If so I agree and understand, but feel a short cut might be acceptable in the early stages of learning. I could also bring over Pine and Netscape which I badly need on Debian for surfing, mail etc. If you bring over RedHat packages, you'll have to use alien to convert them to debs that you can install. And even then, you can't be sure that all the config files will be in their right places, or that the default RedHat configuration will work on Debian. i don't know which package format SuSE uses, or if it just uses plain tgz. But you'd probably have the same risk as with RedHat. If you use the sources from the RedHat or SuSE CDs (if available on the CD set), you'd still need to install thee various development file debs and such to compile, and you'd have to deal with the hassles of installing things in /usr/local. It's not impossible, but it can be a pain. Debianized Pine binaries can't be distributed, but there are Pine source packages that you can compile yourself (look in section non-free/mail, priority Optional). Slink has a Netscape installer package, but you still need to get the tarball from netscape.com. i don't know if the netscape packages (as opposed to the installer package just mentioned) are available in slink, but you can get them from ftp.netgod.net IIRC As a final note, check out the kernel-package package. It'll make a deb that you can install with dpkg, that will properly install the modules, help you a little with lilo, and various other random things it's easy to forget. I've been unable to locate kernel-package so far. Incidentally, as I have the three Linux distributions on the disk at the moment, I boot from floppies - I presume there will be the option to make a new disk during the install/config when I do start. Section misc, optional priority. If it's not on your CD for some reason, you can get it from /debian/dists/stable/main/binary-$ARCH/misc/kernel-package_6.05.deb on your favorite Debian mirror. It's a 120k download. (Of course, replace $ARCH with your actual archetecture, e.g. i386, m68k, whatever. `dpkg --print-architecture` should tell you what it is if you don't know.) - -- finger for PGP public key. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv iQCVAwUBOAo5Zb7M/9WKZLW5AQE5bwP9GzedkKl3pSPFHV+jGwdlXt/1rtb9ByBU
