On Mon, Aug 07, 2000 at 08:07:58PM -0700, Gregory Leblanc wrote:
I'm a little verbose, but this should answer most of your questions,
although sometimes in a slightly annoyed tone. Don't take it personally.
There's a difference between being annoyed and being immature. You seem to
have answered everything with maturity, so no offense taken.
Hello,
I consider the current state of affairs with Software-RAID to
be unbelievable.
It's not as bad as you think. :-)
Maybe not to someone who follows the list regularly, but for someone who
needs to get things accomplished, it's pretty bad.
1) The current RAID-Howto (on www.linux.org) does not
indicate the correct
location of RAID patches. I had to go searching all over
the web to find
the 2.2.16 RAID patch.
Did you try reading the archives for the Linux-RAID list? I've started on a
FAQ that will be updated at very least monthly, and posted to linux-raid.
I did a search on google. The majority of posts I was able to find mentioned
a 2.2.15 patch which could be applied to 2.2.16 as long as several hunks were
hand-patched. Personally, I don't particularly like hand-patching code.
Especially when the data that my job depends on is involved.
2) The current 2.2.16 errata lists a problem with md.c which
is fixed by the
patch "2.2.16combo".
I believe that md software RAID applies to the old RAID code. The RAID
stuff has been VERY good for quite a while now.
The howto on linux.org listed ftp://www.fi.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/raid
as the "official" location for the RAID patches. The patches located there
only went up to 2.2.11. In fact, looking now, the linuxdoc.org howto lists
the same location.
3) The patch "2.2.16combo" FAILS if the RAID patch has
already been applied.
Ditto with the RAID patches to md.c if the 2.2.16combo
patch has already
been applied.
Perhaps they're not compatible, or perhaps one includes the other? Have you
looked at the patches to try to figure out why they don't work? I'm NOT a
hacker, but I can certainly try to figure out why patches don't work.
I looked at them. It appears as though the RAID patch changes the relevant
section to something totally different than it was before, so that the patch
can't be applied, even with an offset. This is why I asked the question in
the first place. In retrospect, I suppose it was a stupid question, but I'd
rather be safe than sorry.
4) The kernel help for all of the MD drivers lists a nonexistant
Software-RAID mini-howto, which is supposedly located at
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini. There is no such
document at this location.
There are 2 Software-RAID HOWTOs available there, although they are 1
directory higher than that URL. For the code included in the stock kernels,
see ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Software-RAID-0.4x-HOWTO.
For the new RAID code by Ingo and others, see
ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/Software-RAID-HOWTO. Both of
these documents are easily available from http://www.LinuxDoc.org/
Thanks for the link. However as mentioned above the howto there still gives
the incorrect location for current kernel patches.
5) The kernel help also does not make it clear that you even
need a RAID
patch with current kernels. It is implied that if you
"Say Y here" then
your kernel will support RAID. This problem is
exacerbated by the missing
RAID patches at the location specified in the actual
Software-RAID-Howto.
No, you don't NEED to patch your kernel to get RAID (md raid, that is)
working. You DO need to patch the kernel if you want the new RAID code.
Everyone on the Linux-RAID list will recommend the new code, I don't know
about anybody else.
So, I have the following questions.
1) Do I need to apply the RAID patch to 2.2.16 or not?
Do you want new RAID, or old RAID?
Well, the box won't boot with the stock MD driver.
2) If I do, will it still broken unless I apply the
"2.2.16combo" patch?
If you apply the combo patch, that will fix things with the old code (I
think, have not verified this yet). If you apply the RAID patch (from the
location above), then you don't need to worry about the fixes in the
2.2.16combo.
3) If it will, then how do I resolve the problem with the
md.c hunk failing
with "2.2.16combo"?
Apply manually? Just take a look at the .rej files (from /usr/src/linux do
a 'find . -name "*rej*"') and see what failed to apply. I generally open a
split pane editor, (for emacs, just put two file names on the command line),
and see if I can find where the patch failed, and try to add the
missing/remove the extraneous lines by hand. It's worked so far.
See above.
4) Is there someone I can contact who can update publically
available
documentation to make it easier for people to find what
they're looking
