Ncurses error message building kernel

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 09:11 AM

I installed RedHat 9 fresh today. My previous installs have booted slow, and run slow. Today I first tried with LILO, Server install, and selecting packages from the tree. Forget it! That was a mess. So I installed again, and chose the Personal Desktop installation, and KDE only - no Gnome. Just selected some packages that I knew I would use, and no development tools for now.

I am attempting to build a kernel with linux-2.4.21, because I've been told that will really clean things up and make Linux run faster than Windoze - which it hasn't so far. There was no symlink in /usr/src, so I made one, untarred linux-2.4.21.tar.gz into it, and did make mrproper. Next I did make menuconfig, and got this error message.

[root@localhost linux]# make menuconfig
rm -f include/asm
( cd include ; ln -sf asm-i386 asm)
make -C scripts/lxdialog all
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts/lxdialog'
/bin/sh: line 1: gcc: command not found

>> Unable to find the Ncurses libraries.
>>
>> You must have Ncurses installed in order
>> to use 'make menuconfig'

make[1]: *** [ncurses] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts/lxdialog'
make: *** [menuconfig] Error 2
[root@localhost linux]#

What do I do now?

TIA

acid_kewpie · 07-15-2003, 09:41 AM

that's not an ncurses problem, you just don't even have gcc installed on your system. if you want to compile a kernel, it helps to have a compiler installed ;-)

btw. kde sucks...

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 09:48 AM

How much is that supposed to *help* me?

captainstorm · 07-15-2003, 10:32 AM

Oh, I think you need the gcc, g++, make, (automake), and all the things coming along with the "development kit". If you did not install, just install it. It's about 300~400 MB.

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by captainstorm
Oh, I think you need the gcc, g++, make, (automake), and all the things coming along with the "development kit". If you did not install, just install it. It's about 300~400 MB.

Could I get that off one of the 3 CD's made from the iso images, or from someplace like Apt? I'm installing Apt at the moment, but seems like if I could figure out how, it would be easier to install it from the CD's.

TIA

captainstorm · 07-15-2003, 10:42 AM

Sure you could. And the 3 CDs from the iso images are enough. I think now you have the RH9. So from the system tools, you can choose "adding or removing files", then select the "development kit". You'll be asked to insert the CD.

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 10:47 AM

Thanks captainstorm. I appreciate the instructions. Will do that now.

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 11:07 AM

Just to clarify those instructions, in case some other new user like myself tries to follow this, the correct path is:
System Settings, Add/Remove Applications

Bruce Hill · 07-15-2003, 01:31 PM

During the make bzImage portion of building the kernel, there were errors. Can someone help me learn how to post a bug report? This is the info. after what looks to be the last good line.

namei.c: In function `vfs_rename_dir':
namei.c:1785: internal error: Segmentation fault
Please submit a full bug report,
with preprocessed source if appropriate.
See <URL:http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/> for instructions.
make[2]: *** [namei.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/fs'
make[1]: *** [first_rule] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/fs'
make: *** [_dir_fs] Error 2
[root@localhost linux]#

TIA