Prevent yum from updating kernel
 

I have serious problems with my Asus A6T notebook. Fedora 6 doesn't recognize my ethernet adapter, so i had to compile the module on my own. But it works only with the 2.6.18-1.2798 kernel. I upgraded the kernel and my net was down. So, I just have a question: Is it possible to prevent yum from installing newer kernel version of kernel as a dependency? Or don't you know why the compiled module doesn't work with newer kernel? Thank you very much...

As root edit the /etc/yum.conf file, example (with excluding the kernel updates) below;

[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
keepcache=0
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
pkgpolicy=newest
distroverpkg=redhat-release
tolerant=1
exactarch=1
obsoletes=1
gpgcheck=1
plugins=1
metadata_expire=1800
exclude=kernel*

See http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/yum/en/ for the details.

great, thank you, works very well, but don't you know what about the module problem? Module compiled on a certain version of linux kernel doesn't work with different version of linux kernel?

And the last thing: If I didn't update my kernel for a period of FC6, could I get into trouble?

Thank you

Most of the time modules built for a kernel are just for that kernel. If you update the kernel you need to rebuilt the module. Most of us that use module(s) outside of the prebuilt kernels do rebuild the module(s) when updating the kernel.

Updating the kernel is a matter of choice, if the update is for security reasons then yes it is a good idea to update. If for bug fixes then maybe yes maybe no, this depends on what the bug fixes are for. if for hardware that you do not have then no real reason to update. No you will not get into trouble by not updating the bug fix kernels, but it a good idea to update for security reasons.

Some repositories offer an additional package which checks for kernel modules and updates them when the kernel is updated. For ATrpms it is yum-plugin-kmdl, for livna it is something like yum-updates-kmod I think.

Regards
Chris