How to Compile 2.6 kernel for RedHat 9/8 and Get Package Updates Via Fedora
Mike Chirico
Last Updated: Tue May 11 18:59:04 EDT 2004
The latest version of this document can be found at:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...6.txt?download
For configs ref:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=109944
STEP 1:
Download the latest version of the kernel and any patches.
This documentation is done with linux-2.6.3, but look for
later versions.
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/
Also take a look at
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/post-halloween-2.5.txt
This has some useful hints on some of the changes needed.
STEP 2:
Download the latest version of module-init-tools
"module-init-tools-3.0.tar.gz" and
"modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm"
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kern...ols-3.0.tar.gz
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kern....21-23.src.rpm
STEP 3:
Install module-init-tools. This will replace depmod
[/sbin/depmod] and other tools.
tar -zxvf module-init-tools-3.0.tar.gz
cd module-init-tools-3.0
./configure --prefix=/sbin
make
make install
./generate-modprobe.conf /etc/modprobe.conf
STEP 4:
Install modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm. You may get warnings
about user rusty and group rusty not existing. Also, yes,
you'll have to force the install. If you don't do these steps
for both Redhat 9 and Redhat 8, you'll have problems with the
make modules_install.
rpm -i modutils-2.4.21-23.src.rpm
rpmbuild -bb /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/modutils.spec
rpm -Fi /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/modutils-2.4.21-23.i386.rpm
STEP 5:
Install and configure the kernel. Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux
area! Reference the README. I put my files in /home/src/kernel/
gunzip linux-2.6.3.tar.gz tar -xvf linux-2.6.3.tar cd
linux-2.6.3
If you have patches install these now:
bzip2 -dc ../patch-2.6.xx.bz2 | patch -p1
STEP 6:
Copy the appropriate /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs
[kernel-2.4.20-i686.config, kernel-2.4.20-i686-smp.config]
to .config in whatever directory you are installing. In my
case it's /home/src/kernel/linux-2.6.3
cp /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs/kernel-2.4.20-i686.config \
/home/src/kernel/linux-2.6.3/.config
If you don't have the source configs, you can download them
from here:
https://sourceforge.net/project/show...kage_id=109944
I've also included a file config2.6-chirico which was a 2.6
version for some of my systems. This isn't a bad reference if
you run into trouble.
STEP 7:
Assuming you copied the appropriate kernel-2.4 config to
.config, run the following which will run through necessary
questions for the 2.6 kernel. Or, you might want to use the
config2.6-chirico...this has already been run through make
oldconfig on my system, and I've answered the necessary questions
for a general system.
make oldconfig
STEP 8:
This is very important. Make sure you're .config has the
following in it CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y You'll run into the following
error if you leave this =m instead of =y:
pivotroot: pivot_root(/sysroot,/sysroot/initrd) failed
This is because Redhat 9.0 and 8.0 use the ext3 filesystem
for /boot ...
STEP 9:
Edit the Makefile and add changes to the Extraversion as desired.
Patches will update these values as well.
VERSION = 2
PATCHLEVEL = 6
SUBLEVEL = 3
EXTRAVERSION = -skim-ch6
STEP 10:
make bzImage
STEP 11:
make modules
STEP 12:
make modules_install
STEP 13:
make install
If you come across errors here, what version of "depmod" is
being picked up in your path?
Also, if you get a module not found, say the following:
No module aic7xxx found for kernel 2.6.x
Then, in /lib/modules/2.6.x/kernel/drivers/scsi/aic7xxx/
cp aic7xxx.ko aic7xxx.o
insmod should look for aic7xxx.ko ;but , it looks for aic7xxx.o
If you still have trouble, make the following change in the
.config
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y
and go back to STEP 10.
You also may want to ref
kernel-2.6.3-i686-smp-chirico-aic7xxx.config
in
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...ar.gz?download
STEP 14:
mkdir /sys
STEP 15:
/etc/rc.sysinit needs to be modified. Look for the following
line:
action $"Mounting proc filesystem: " mount -n -t proc /proc /proc
and after this line enter the following:
action $"Mounting sysfs filesystem: " mount -t sysfs none /sys
Here's my /etc/rc.sysinit for reference:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...t.txt?download
Be very careful at this step. Backup the /etc/rc.sysinit file.
Thomer [
http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html ] also added
changes to /etc/fstab. I only had to do STEP 16 below.
STEP 16:
Add the following to /etc/fstab for usb support.
/proc/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs defaults 0 0
STEP 17 (CHECKING EVERYTHING):
Check the following:
a. The new image file should be installed on boot and there
should be sym link to it. My latest kernel is 2.6.3-skim-ch6,
and I got the "-skim-ch6" from the values I put in the Makefile,
so I see the following:
/boot
vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.6.3-skim-ch6
System.map -> System.map-2.6.3-skim-ch6
/boot/grub/grub.conf Should have been automatically
updated from make.
In /boot/grub/grub.conf change "default=0" to boot
with the new kernel. Here's an example of my
grub.conf:
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to
# root (hd0,2)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda6
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.6.3-skim-ch6)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.3-skim-ch6 ro root=LABEL=/
initrd /initrd-2.6.3-skim-ch6.img
b. The directory /sys exists
c. You added the mount command for sys in /etc/rc.sysinit
d. CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y was used in the .config
e. Run /sbin/lsmod or cat /proc/modules to make
sure a 2.4 kernel module wasn't forgotten. Also
look at "$cat /proc/iomem"
STEP 18 (GETTING UPDATES: YUM):
Yum works with RPM based systems to update packages
automatically. Yum is an officially supported update
mechanism for Fedora, and Fedora mirrors are set up
as Yum repositories.
Download:
http://linux.duke.edu/projects/yum/download.ptml
Before installing Yum, or any RPM package, you'll need
to do the following:
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.4.19
Next, install Yum
rpm -ivh yum-2.0.7-1.noarch.rpm
The "/etc/yum.conf" may need to be updated. Here is an
example file with the values for redhat 9 entered in
directly
[main]
cachedir=/var/cache/yum
debuglevel=2
logfile=/var/log/yum.log
pkgpolicy=newest
distroverpkg=redhat-release
tolerant=1
exactarch=1
[fedora-stable-9]
name=Fedora Project Stable RPMS for RHL 9
baseurl=http: //download.fedora.us/fedora/redhat/9/i386/yum/stable/
gpgcheck=1
[fedora-updates-9]
name=Fedora Project update RPMS for RHL 9
baseurl=http: //download.fedora.us/fedora/redhat/9/i386/yum/updates/
gpgcheck=1
NOTE: If you're using Redhat 8, replace 9 with "8.0"
The following will download a lot of "HEADER" files, but WILL NOT update
anything. Yes, I too thought my system was being updated with old files,
but IT IS NOT.
yum check-update
After this runs, which takes awhile. You can then update selected packages.
Here is an example of the "libpng10" package being updated.
yum -y update libpng10
Also, subsequent calls to "yum check-update" shows what needs to be updated.
To update every currently installed package
yum -y update
STEP 19 (DEVELOP YOUR OWN 2.6 MODULES):
You're done with the 2.6 build. So learn how to develop
2.6 kernel modules. First, checkout the following article
http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/
Then, take a look at the following sample code, which shows how
to create /proc entries for communicating with the kernel and writing
out to any available tty device.
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...ar.gz?download
REFERENCES:
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/post-halloween-2.5.txt
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/799
http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html
http://www.kernel.org/
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...p=linux.kernel
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT3855888078.html
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...6.txt?download
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...t.txt?download
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/s...ar.gz?download
https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=353715
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/kernel26/
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/KernelAnalysis-HOWTO.html
http://www-124.ibm.com/linux/projects/?topic_id=2
KERNEL DRIVER DEVELOPMENT IN 2.6:
Excellent (series of articles):
http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/
Here's my sample program:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/c...ar.gz?download
Good but dated for 2.4 kernel:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdrive2/
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4389927951.html
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT5793467888.html
