I upgraded my Linux kernel from 2.4.20 to 2.4.25. Naturally, the Freeswan that I had installed on 2.4.20 does not run on 2.4.25. So I attempted to install Freeswan 1.98b by compiling a version against the 2.4.25 kernel following the directions from the 1.98b tar file. When I reboot, I receive the following errors:

Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: Starting FreeS/WAN IPsec 1.98b...
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec_setup: Starting FreeS/WAN IPsec 1.98b...
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: The module you are trying to load (/lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o) is compiled with a gcc
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec_setup: version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: The module you are trying to load (/lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o) is compiled with a gcc
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec_setup: a gcc version 3 compiler. This is known to not work.
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec_setup: Using /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: a gcc version 3 compiler. This is known to not work.
Mar 28 06:10:53 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: Using /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: The module you are trying to load (/lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o) is compiled with a gcc
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: The module you are trying to load (/lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o) is compiled with a gcc
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: a gcc version 3 compiler. This is known to not work.
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o failed
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: insmod ipsec failed
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: kernel appears to lack KLIPS
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec_setup: OOPS, should have aborted! Broken shell!
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: a gcc version 3 compiler. This is known to not work.
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o failed
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.25/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o: insmod ipsec failed
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: kernel appears to lack KLIPS
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost ipsec: ipsec_setup: OOPS, should have aborted! Broken shell!
Mar 28 06:10:59 localhost rc: Starting ipsec: failed

So, I thought, ok, I'll go out and see if there's an upgrade available for the gcc compiler. Well, when I ran gcc -v, I get:

[swallow@localhost swallow]$ gcc -v
Reading specs from /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux/3.2.2/specs
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --disable-checking --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --host=i386-redhat-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 3.2.2 20030222 (Red Hat Linux 3.2.2-5)

So, it seems to me that I'm at version 3 already. What does this error mean? It seems that ipsec.o was not compiled when I ran through the install process. So how do I get that addressed?

Mark "learning much more than I really want to" Swallow

It would appear that it relates to the following that I've found on the Freeswan forums:


On Thu, 17 Oct 2002, Charles Johnson wrote:

> 3. Applied the patch supplied by Tom Hughes to remove the
> gcc2_compiled.: line.

Of course, I see that *after* I hit send. Don't you hate that? Sorry...

> ipsec_setup: /lib/modules/2.4.18-14/kernel/net/ipsec/ipsec.o was
> compiled for kernel version 2.4.18-14custom
> ipsec_setup: while this kernel is version 2.4.18-14.

The kernel version is defined in the main Makefile, and it does include
"custom" as part of EXTRAVERSION. I belive RedHat's intent with this is to
ensure that if you recompile your own kernel, the original 2.4.18-14 modules
won't be overwritten accidentally. You'll always be able to go back to the old
config.

Edit your kernel source's Makefile, and strip out the "custom" at the end of
EXTRAVERSIONS. Now, issue make mrproper, copy the .config, run menuconfig and
dep. Now, go to the freeswan 1.98b sources, and run "make oldmod". Once this
has finished, *don't* run make minstall. Instead, go directly to the
/usr/src/linux-2.4.18-14/net/ipsec/ directory, and copy the newly made ipsec.o
into place (in /lib/modules/linux-2.4.18-14/kernel/net/ipsec)

Why no make minstall? I'm finding that it actually results in the deletion of
your existing modules. Copying it by hand works properly. (Or so it seems.)

There's probably a nicer way to do this. But since we'll have RPMs for RH 8.0
very shortly, this will hopefully be an academic issue.

Let me know if any of the steps above fail to make this a painless process.


- --
Sam Sgro
sam@freeswan.org