DISCUSSION: How to Compile 2.6 kernel for RedHat 9/8

This thread is to discuss the article titled: How to Compile 2.6 kernel for RedHat 9/8

HellO...
[root@Master linux-2.6.6]# make install
ake[1]: `arch/i386/kernel/asm-offsets.s' is up to date.
CHK include/linux/compile.h
Kernel: arch/i386/boot/bzImage is ready
sh /home/basem/src/kernel/linux-2.6.6/arch/i386/boot/install.sh 2.6.6 arch/i386/boot/bzImage System.map ""

NO module /bin/true found for kernel 2.6.6
mkinitrd failed

make[1]:***[install] Error 1
make:***[install] Error 2




what i'm suppose to do



i already installed
module-init-tools-3.0
modutils-2.4.22-8.ser.rpm

on RedHat ~9

Hello
Thanks for the great tutorial

I followever your tutorial step by step (except for the modutils-2.4.21-22.src.rpm package, which is the only one available from your site

Everything goes fine, except two things:

I have to copy module aic7xxx.ko to module aic7xxx.o, same for sg.ko -> sg.o

When I reboot my machine, I see the followings errors:

Loading aic7xxx.o module
insmod: can't read '/lib/aic7xxx.o'

Loading sg.o module
insmod: can't read '/lib/sg.o'

Initializing USB controller (uhci): FATAL: Module uchi not found
Initializing USB controller (usbcore): FATAL: Module usbcore not found
Initializing USB controller (hid): FATAL: Module hid not found

Mouting USB filesystem
grep: /proc/bus/usb/drivers: No such file or directory:

Initializing USB keyboard: FATAL: Module keybdev not found
Initializing USB mouse: FATAL: Module mousebdev not found

Mounting local filesystems: mount: fs type vfat not supported by kernel

Mount /*proc/bus/usb already mounted or /proc/bus/usb busy

FLushing all current rules and user defined chains: iptables v 1.2.7a: can't initialize iptables table 'filter': iptables who? (do you need insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded

Tons of errors

I followed the tutorial excactly as you mentioned. I will appreciate any response since I've been trying to compile a 2.6.x kernel for a few months now

Regards

Xavier

this seems very nice, but when itry "make menuconfig" and the like, I always get:
"Missing }."
???
How can that be. I've had this problem for SOO long now and never found anything usefull on the net yet about it.

This is a great post.

But still I allow myself to add here a tiny supplement that shows how to use a kernel that doesn't have the 'ext3.ko' module built in. Yes, it is possible. It worked for me with 2.6.15 original kernel source.

First make sure you have the old 'mkinitrd' package, that came with your RH9 distribution installed.
Build the initrd image the same way as you did for previous 2.4 kernels (yes, I know it will be bad).

$ cd /boot
$ mkinitrd initrd-2.6.x.img 2.6.x
// whre 'x' is a minor version of the kernel.

Now we try to fix the image. It is most likely the gzipped archive.
$ mkdir /mnt/image
$ gzip -dc initrd-2.6.x.img > 26.img
$ mount 26.img /mnt/image -o loop

Look at the directory and see what it contains:
$ cd /mnt/image
$ ls
// looks sweet

Now see what subdir 'lib' contains. It is most likely empty... :/
$ ls lib
// was it?
If so, copy the necessary modules from /lib/modules subdirectory
$ cp /lib/modules/2.6.15/kernel/fs/ext3/jbd.ko ./lib/
$ cp /lib/modules/2.6.15/kernel/fs/ext3/ext3.ko ./lib/

Now replace the old 'insmod' binary, that resided in ./bin or ./sbin subdirectories with the one that is shipped with 'module-init-tools' package.
$ cp /sbin/insmod.static ./sbin/insmod
$ vi linuxrc

Now in the top of the file, before anything else, add the insmod command that inserts both modules to the kernel.
$ insmod /lib/jbd.ko
$ insmod /lib/ext3.ko

Go back to the boot directory and replace the 'initrd' image.
$ cd /boot
$ umount 26.img
$ gzip -c9 26.img > initrd-2.6.15.img

Thats it. Depending on if you're using LILO or GRUB make necessary configuration changes like simply editing 'lilo.conf' or 'grub.conf' and perform a reboot. If everything went fine, the kernel should boot without any problems. Yes, it worked for me...

P.S. If at the boot time you see some QM_MODULES not implemented and you kernel panics then boot back with 2.4 and replace the 'insmod' binary within the initrd image, you have created. Most likely, you've added an old insmod from 'modutils' package and not the one that comes with 'module-init-tools'.