is it wise to upgrade to kernel 2.4.21
 

Hi

about 3 weeks ago i migrated from windows XP to slackware 9.

Currently i am using kernel 2.4.20 (bare.i) i have a pretty fast machine, athlonXP 1500, and 512mb (okay not the fastest on earth or anything, but still..)

Anyway i am curious, is it usefull to upgrade to the latest kernel? does it improve performance or anything, since i have to install quite some applications again, i would like to know if it is worth the effort, or that i should wait.

Thanks in advance,

cheers

I'm pretty sure that there was a bug fix in the scheduler in 2.4.21 so its probably worth doing if you have the time. I wouldn't expect to see any massive difference though as IIRC the bug was pretty small, especially to have not been noticed sooner.

If you do upgrade the kernel you shouldn't need to recompile any applications, the only exception being custom kernel modules. I tend to upgrade if there is a specific change that will support new hardware that I have or fix a bug that affects me, apart from that I tend to take the view that the effort probably won't out weight the gains. (IMHO).

HTH

Jamie...

When I recompile my stock 2.4.20 kernel specifically for my Athlon XP I definitely notice a performance increase. Its not my imagination I am sure as I time the kernel compiles :-)

Thanks all for the replies. Where can i find info on comiling the kernel specially for the ahtlonXP?

since i am pretty interested in that. :)

cheers,

There is only one option for your specific processor under 'Processor type and features' .Select whatever applies to your box.And forget about exotic gcc flags.They are not used when you compile the kernel.You can make it use them but nobody will be able to help you if things go wrong then.

***YES***

Upgrade to 2.4.21 as soon as possible, as it fixes some rather serious security problems.

Take a look at the following for more info:
http://www.slackware.com/security/vi...ecurity.522012

Bear with me till I get home from work and I'll give you the quick and easy method ;)

I suggest compiling the kernel at the console. Whether or not thats good practice, I don't know but it feels right. I am sure it is quicker than in X too, but I may be wrong.

1. Download the 2.4.21 kernel source. You can get it from many places, I am sure you can find it.

2. Save the file to /usr/src

3. Unpack the kernel source. It will unpack to a directory called linux-2.4.21

4. Create a symlink to the file

ln -s linux-2.4.21 linux

5. cd into /usr/src/linux

6. Type make menuconfig and tweak away! To see what options were included in your install, check the /boot/config file for reference.

7. The particular area you are interested in is Processor type and features, then Processor family. Choose Athlon/Duron/K7.

8. Once you have done tweaking, save the config with a meaningful name (2.4.21-test), and exit, saving the setup.

9. Type the following

date >> kernel.timer; make dep; make clean; make bzImage; make modules; make modules_install; date >> kernel.timer

and go make a cup of tea :-) By using the date >> kernel.timer
line, you can see how long it took to compile. You can then compile again with the new kernel, without having to choose all the options again. and see how long it takes. You don't have to do anything with it once you have compiled again, its just a test :-)

10. Once you have finsihed compiling the new kernel, copy it to /boot with a more meaningful name:

cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-2.4.21-test

11. Copy the System.map to boot with a more meaningful name

cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map-2.4.21-test

12. Delete the symlink /boot/System.map

rm /boot/System.map

13. Create a symlink to the new System.map

ln -s System.map-2.4.21 System.map

14. Add the following to /etc/lilo.conf

image = /boot/bzImage-2.4.21-test
root = /dev/hda6 [this should be the same as your existing one]
label = Test
read-only

save, and run lilo (just type lilo), you should see test added.

15. Reboot and pray! Because you are using a new kernel version you don't have to worrry about backing up your old modules, but if ever you want to recompile a new kernel but preserve your old modules in cases you need to boot back into your original state, then cp /lib/modules/2.4.21 /lib/modules/2.4.21.bak

16. If it fails, you only need to link System.map back to System.map-ide-2.4.20

17. The very best of British!

Hi reclusivemonkey
thanks.. Very detailed info. Thanks to the other people who responded as well.

I will use this "guide" to upgrade. Will do that this evening or tomorrow.
And enter the results here. :)

cheers,

personally, i'd recommend using "&&" instead of ";"...


date >> kernel.timer && make dep && make clean && make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install && date >> kernel.timer


that way, if anything goes wrong the script stops cleanly.

Hey thanks for that slipwalker, I'd often seen && used, but never quite knew the difference :-) I know & is used to put a process in the background what does the second one do, just tell the system there is another command?

That directive worked like a charm... thanks recluse!!!

:)

For others attempting: make sure you don't select anything in the configuration that you don't actually have... it kinda tends to fault the compilation.

;)

-zsejk

i'm getting ready to compile 2.4.21 using reclusive's directions also. one question: i have a barton, so which processor option should i choose?

Athlon/Duron/K7

The optimizations are all the same IIRC.

The only thing that I don't know about is SSE support, since the newer athlons have it.

i'm using slackware 8.1 kernel 2.4.18.
if i upgrade my kernel to 2.4.21, is that mean my slackware version become 9 ?
btw, i have network issue with my box right now. so i'm thinking to upgrade my kernel.
if i upgrade my kernel, do i have to setup all my hardware again ?
i've lanstreamer network adapter and ac'97 audio. i've read that these two hardware is already supported by the latest kernel.
so, which one will be use, previous driver or from latest kernel ?
and for my configuration like in /etc/rc.d, do i have to setup all again ? thanks.
btw, this guide is the best i've read. simple and easy to follow.
i think it would be easier to learn linux if all howto's document like this.

No. The kernel is quite seperate from the distribution. Slackware 9 relates to the whole set of packages that make up the distribution, (XFree86, Gnome, Kde, GTK, Bash, everything!). Your Slackware version and your kernel version are entirely seperate. If you are trying a kernel version a long way from your current one, you would have to update some packages, but you could easily try a 2.4.21 on Slackware 8.1. Your kernel deals with the hardware in your machine, and is just one file (not including modules). Its useless without the operating system software, but then so is that without a kernel!

No your hardware should be fine. You should make sure that anything you are using as a module gets recompiled as a module. You may need to do a little tweaking if the modules have changed between kernel versions, but recompiling your kernel doesn't change anything in /etc AFAIK. When you compile a new kernel version you will still have all your modules in /lib/modules/2.4.18, in case you want to boot with the old kernel in case of problems. However you will also have a new set of modules in /lib/modules/2.4.21.

Nope, again everything in /etc/rc.d should be o.k. If you refer to any modules in rc.modules which you didn't compile then they won't load, but then you will remember to do all that right? ;-)

I was totally blown away by the fact you could easily update the kernel in GNU/Linux seperately from the system software. Once you get the hang of choosing the kernel options, actually compiling the kernel and adding it to Lilo is pretty simple.

Hey thanks man :-) I'm currently working as an IT Trainer so I get a lot of practice helping people out.

If you can get hold of a copy of Slackware 9, I would. It was been compiled with the new Gcc 3.something, and is a heck of a lot faster than 8.1. Good luck and keep on Slackin!

big problem
 

I have a problem with kernel.I compile and recompile the kernel version 2.4.21 and I can't boot with new version.
When I boot with new kernel I receive that:
boot: lin_snew
Loading: .....................................
and nothing, but I can execute Ctrl+Alt+Del.
The list of my dmesg and old config file(I use that for compile) is below:

dmesg:

Linux version 2.4.20 (root@midas) (gcc version 3.2.2) #2 Mon Mar 17 22:02:15 PST 2003
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009fc00 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000009fc00 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 00000000000f0000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
BIOS-e820: 0000000000100000 - 000000000fff0000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 000000000fff0000 - 000000000fff3000 (ACPI NVS)
BIOS-e820: 000000000fff3000 - 0000000010000000 (ACPI data)
BIOS-e820: 00000000ffff0000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
255MB LOWMEM available.
On node 0 totalpages: 65520
zone(0): 4096 pages.
zone(1): 61424 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=linux_slack ro root=341
Initializing CPU#0
Detected 1463.275 MHz processor.
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 2916.35 BogoMIPS
Memory: 256180k/262080k available (1733k kernel code, 5512k reserved, 568k data, 112k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
Buffer-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: L2 Cache: 256K (64 bytes/line)
CPU: After generic, caps: 0383f9ff c1c3f9ff 00000000 00000000
CPU: Common caps: 0383f9ff c1c3f9ff 00000000 00000000
CPU: AMD Unknown CPU Type stepping 01
Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done.
Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
mtrr: v1.40 (20010327) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
mtrr: detected mtrr type: Intel
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfb400, last bus=1
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
PCI: Using IRQ router default [1106/3099] at 00:00.0
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Diskquotas version dquot_6.4.0 initialized
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
pty: 512 Unix98 ptys configured
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with HUB-6 MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 89
PCI: No IRQ known for interrupt pin A of device 00:11.1. Please try using pci=biosirq.
VP_IDE: chipset revision 6
VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
VP_IDE: VIA vt8233 (rev 00) IDE UDMA100 controller on pci00:11.1
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xd400-0xd407, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xd408-0xd40f, BIOS settings: hdc:DMA, hdd:pio
hda: WDC WD800JB-00CRA1, ATA DISK drive
hdb: QUANTUM FIREBALLlct10 15, ATA DISK drive
hdc: DV-516E, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
blk: queue c0388784, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
hda: 156301488 sectors (80026 MB) w/8192KiB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63, UDMA(100)
blk: queue c03888c0, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
hdb: 29336832 sectors (15020 MB) w/418KiB Cache, CHS=1826/255/63, (U)DMA
hdc: ATAPI 48X DVD-ROM drive, 512kB Cache, UDMA(33)
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4
hdb: hdb1 hdb2 < hdb5 hdb6 >
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 7777K size 1024 blocksize
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
kmod: failed to exec /sbin/modprobe -s -k scsi_hostadapter, errno = 2
md: linear personality registered as nr 1
md: raid0 personality registered as nr 2
md: raid1 personality registered as nr 3
md: raid5 personality registered as nr 4
raid5: measuring checksumming speed
8regs : 2098.400 MB/sec
32regs : 1206.400 MB/sec
pIII_sse : 4023.600 MB/sec
pII_mmx : 3426.800 MB/sec
p5_mmx : 4372.400 MB/sec
raid5: using function: pIII_sse (4023.600 MB/sec)
md: md driver 0.90.0 MAX_MD_DEVS=256, MD_SB_DISKS=27
md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
md: autorun ...
md: ... autorun DONE.
LVM version 1.0.5+(22/07/2002)
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
IP: routing cache hash table of 2048 buckets, 16Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 16384 bind 32768)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 112k freed
NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O MODULE]
NTFS: Warning! NTFS volume version is Win2k+: Mounting read-only
NTFS: Warning! NTFS volume version is Win2k+: Mounting read-only
3c59x: Donald Becker and others. www.scyld.com/network/vortex.html
00:0b.0: 3Com PCI 3c905B Cyclone 100baseTx at 0xd000. Vers LK1.1.16
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Linux Kernel Card Services 3.1.22
options: [pci] [cardbus] [pm]
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
Intel PCIC probe: not found.
Databook TCIC-2 PCMCIA probe: not found.
ds: no socket drivers loaded!
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:11.5 to 64
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
uhci.c: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v1.1
uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xd800, IRQ 9
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.275 $ time 15:38:38 Mar 11 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
usb-uhci.c: v1.275:USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver

and config

#
# Automatically generated make config: don't edit
#
CONFIG_X86=y
# CONFIG_SBUS is not set
CONFIG_UID16=y

#
# Code maturity level options
#
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y

#
# Loadable module support
#
CONFIG_MODULES=y
# CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is not set
CONFIG_KMOD=y

#
# Processor type and features
#
# CONFIG_M386 is not set
CONFIG_M486=y
# CONFIG_M586 is not set
# CONFIG_M586TSC is not set
# CONFIG_M586MMX is not set
# CONFIG_M686 is not set
# CONFIG_MPENTIUMIII is not set
# CONFIG_MPENTIUM4 is not set
# CONFIG_MK6 is not set
# CONFIG_MK7 is not set
# CONFIG_MELAN is not set
# CONFIG_MCRUSOE is not set
# CONFIG_MWINCHIPC6 is not set
# CONFIG_MWINCHIP2 is not set
# CONFIG_MWINCHIP3D is not set
# CONFIG_MCYRIXIII is not set
CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y
CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y
CONFIG_X86_XADD=y
CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y
CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y
# CONFIG_RWSEM_GENERIC_SPINLOCK is not set
CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y
CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=4
CONFIG_X86_USE_STRING_486=y
CONFIG_X86_ALIGNMENT_16=y
CONFIG_X86_PPRO_FENCE=y
# CONFIG_X86_F00F_WORKS_OK is not set
# CONFIG_X86_MCE is not set
CONFIG_TOSHIBA=m
CONFIG_I8K=m
CONFIG_MICROCODE=m
CONFIG_X86_MSR=m
CONFIG_X86_CPUID=m
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM64G is not set
# CONFIG_HIGHMEM is not set
CONFIG_MATH_EMULATION=y
CONFIG_MTRR=y
# CONFIG_SMP is not set
# CONFIG_X86_UP_APIC is not set
# CONFIG_X86_UP_IOAPIC is not set
# CONFIG_X86_TSC_DISABLE is not set

I hope is a useful this part from old config(I don't change nothing).I run the Slack 9 version, and don't have any problem when I install.

Please help me.

Is that your whole config file?There are some things missing - like drivers for your hardware and filesystems

Is not whole config file, I don't post it because is too large.
Tnx, but i resolve the problem. I must re-run lilo everytime when I create new bzImage. I understand why for the first time it works, because I run lilo after changes in the lilo.conf .

Thats in step 14. :D

Well great, thye new kernel is running fine. i have some probs with vmware now.. but i will investigate en google that :)

(i that part of the learning curve of linux?) ;)

(Unable to make a vmnet module that can be loaded in the running kernel:
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet.o: unresolved symbol _mmx_memcpy
/tmp/vmware-config0/vmnet.o:
Hint: You are trying to load a module without a GPL compatible license
and it has unresolved symbols. The module may be trying to access
GPLONLY symbols but the problem is more likely to be a coding or
user error. Contact the module supplier for assistance, only they
can help you.
)
anyway.. i am on 2.4.21 now

cheers, and thanks for the nice guide.

Okay, sorry for quoting myself ;)

i fixed the problem, differences in kernelheaders and kernel caused this problem. by using the compiler guide from DaOne i compiled my own kernel :)

This forum is just great! I only started 3 weeks ago with linux, and thanks to u guy's i already compiled my own kernel :)) And i gathered a lot of knowlegde.

cheers , and i have to adjust my signature ;)

hi reclusivemonkey,
what do you suggest, upgrade my kernel or make a fresh install for slackware 9 ? did you say if upgrade kernel can improve performance or just compiling time ?
btw, if you don't mind, would you help guiding me about samba :D ? i've been read many manual, so far i get more confuse :confused:
thanks for your help.

I would say if you are using Slackware 8, then upgrading to Slackware 9 should give you a performance boost (providing you have a fairly new computer).

Compiling time is an indication of performace. The quicker your kernel compiles, the quicker your system is running. Changing your kernel to the correct processor (from 386 to Athlon in may case) gave me a performace boost, but then it will depend what sort of processor you have.

Sorry, I don't know anything about Samba, I'm just a newbie! However if you want to post your problem, I'll see if we can get to the root of the problem and set up another post for a Guru to have a look at :)

munkeh

thanks for your suggestion and helps :)

did you meant the client part of smb?
cheers,

no