Compiling the 2.6 kernel

[Anton Markov]

Hi guys,

Here is how I got 2.6.0 working on my RH9 system:

I used the unofficial Redhat kernel source RPMs.  I had trouble with the 
various new module loading utilities (yes, you do need new modinit and 
modutils), until I downloaded the kernel with apt-get.  It solved the 
dependency problems.  Add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

# Arjan's 2.6 series kernel repository
rpm http://people.redhat.com arjanv/2.5 kernel
rpm-src http://people.redhat.com arjanv/2.5 kernel

Then do:
# apt-get install kernel-source#2.6.0-1.104

or do:
# apt-get install kernel-source
to get a list of all possible kernel versions.

You will find the kernel under /usr/src/linux-2.6.0-1.104.  Configure it 
as you normally would.  2.6 includes new GTK+ and QT based configuration 
interfaces.  Use "make xconfig" for the QT and "make gconfig" for the 
GTK one.  I like the QT configuration tool better.

There is no need to do "make dep" any more.  Just do:

# make all
# make install
# make modules_install

and you should have a "linux-2.6.0custom" or similar entry in 
/etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst automatically.

Now on the topic of initrd:

initrd.img is created automatically during "make install" by the 
"mkinitrd" tool.  See "man mkinitrd" for details.  However, I have found 
that mkinitrd did not work for the new kernel.  I don't think it was 
even created properly, because when I run mkinitrd manually, it fails. 
I just compiled the drivers for ext3 and reiserfs (my root system) 
directly into the kernel, and removed the "initrd 2.6..." line from my 
/boot/grub/menu.lst file for the new kernel entry.  I think initrd is 
only really useful for generic distribution kernels; if you make a 
custom kernel, it makes sense to compile your IDE/SCSI chipset and root 
filesystem drivers directly into the kernel.

FYI: a new version on mkinitrd came out today on apt-get. Maybe this one 
will work.

If you still have problems with modules not loading, get the new 
module-init-tools version 0.9.12 or newer.  You will have to convert 
your /etc/modules.conf file to /etc/modprobe.conf format, etc.  Read the 
README with module-init-tools.  But first try the apt-get solution above!

I hope this helped.


Anton



Jing Su wrote:
>>Any suggestions or readings would be of help.
> 
> 
> I too decided to play with 2.6 for the day, though I got frustrated and
> stopped.  Anyone know what the deal with the new modules is?  Based on
> some browsing of newsgroups via google, it seems that a new module loader
> is needed? (I'm using the one shipped with RH8).  Anyways, I went and got
> the latest/greatest non-development version of the module loader.
> modules.conf has been replaced with modprobe.conf, and modprobe.devfs.
> Haven't quite figured out these things yet.
> 
> Anyways, I've been getting module dependency errors and they refuse to
> load when I boot the new kernel.... still investigating it though, to
> figure out what's going wrong.
> 
> As for initrd, I found that it's mostly used for scsi systems.  Atleast
> it's true in my case.  I needed to pack up the the scsi board module into
> the initrd image.  After a while, I found the whole process of initrd
> creation to be annoying, and just compiled the scsi driver into the kernel
> itself, and did a regular boot without initrd.
> 
> -Jing

-- 
Anton Markov <("anton" + "@" + "truxtar" + "." + "com")>

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