New to slackware, how to install new kernel
 

I was debating trying Slackware on my system, but need a 3.4 or later kernel. How big of a deal is this? Is this a reason to use a different distro?

I realize there are a lot of posts about this, however most of them point to http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/kernel14.html which is a broken link, and half of them say to get this from the testing branch and the other half say to download from kernel.org directly.

This is the link I use for Slackware to build kernels.

-->http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...kernelbuilding

It depends on your skill level. For an intermediate user, these instructions work well. You need to be able to copy files, edit files and run things from the command line. I usually recompile a kernel for my systems. I do not consider myself an expert at it.

The thing to do is install your slackware system, get it running on the generic kernel, you can then download what ever version you want, and follow the instructions on the link. You will probably need an initrd file, there is a handy script to use that makes that easy.

Slackware is well documented, you will need to read as you go. It is not hard, just different from the installers on other distros.

I don't think so, several Slack users are using kernels newer than the one that comes with 14.0.

Yes, I saw that link.

What about:
http://www.slackware.com/announce/14.0.php

Do I need these config files in addition to the link you posted, or will they make the upgrade easier, or should I ignore them?


I am more concerned about whether I will have a stable working system when I am done then how long this will take (but am assuming I can get through it in 1 day). Part of the reason for doing this is the learning process anyway. If others are doing this, it is probably okay.

I have not used the new configs. Right now I don't have a need. Can't help with advice on them.

I would try the compile with the standard config first.

I'm running Slackware64-14 with the generic kernel 3.5.4 compiled with the config from /testing/source/. It works very well.

Markus

Subscribed. Please let us know how you fare, bvbellomo. This is one already I would like to more completely explore myself.

Member Response
 

Hi,

Welcome to LQ & Slackware!
Slackware®-Links & Slackware Doc Project are two useful links that will help you with a Slackware journey. Be sure to look at Linux Kernel section of Slackware®-Links for helpful links for the kernel.

HTH!

-current is using a 3.7 kernel, so that could be an option as well.

I tried last night - this was delayed because of hardware issues. I had both a bad motherboard and a bad power supply, so now I have almost a new computer.

My new kernel did not book :(

I got:
VFS: Cannot open root device "802" or unknown-block (8,2)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option
Kernel Panic-not syncing: VFS: unable to mount root fs on unknown block(8,2)

Please note this is from "http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=linux:kernelbuilding#creating_an_initrd" and may not be the exact error message but it is very similar.


I tried to start the process over, but failed (don't remember why, because I was falling asleep by then).

Questions:
The page referenced above says "Build the ext3 (needs the jbd driver as well) and reiser/xfs/jfs fileystem drivers into the kernel instead of compiling them as modules"
I am assuming I don't need reiser since I've never used (or plan to use) that filesystem.
I can't find the jbd driver in options. I do see jdb debug information options for ext3 and ext4, but they look like debugging information, not something needed (or useful) on a production system.

The page does warn "Remember, your new kernel may not even boot if you made a mistake somewhere", but doesn't give me any clue how to fix things if I made a mistake somewhere. Do I just start the process over again? Or do I need to do some cleanup?

Probably your kernel is missing the driver for the filesystem. Which filesystem does your / partition actually have?

You will have either to build your kernel with the drivers for filesystem and ide/sata-controller in the kernel, or you build a generic kernel, only with a generic kernel you'll need an initrd. Don't confuse both! with the initrd you will have to build those modules into the initrd.

Markus

I am using ext4.

I thought I included the drivers, but after I ran "make xconfig" a 2nd time, they were selected as modules, and it seems to be remember the changes I make, so I bet this was the problem.

The alien.slackbook.org article does not mention "ide/sata-controller". I did see another page (http://blog.tpa.me.uk/slackware-kernel-compile-guide/) ask me to include this as well. There is a section “Device Drivers” -> “Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers”, but everything seems to default to being compiled in. Do you think this is also a problem?

I have not tried to do an initrd, and want to avoid that, unless I can't get my system working any other way (unlikely).

Should I be able to go through all the steps on the alien.slackbook.org a second (or third, or fourth, etc) time without doing any cleanup? If so, most of the steps seem redundant, can I skip them? Nothing I can find tells me anything about how to start the process over if I need to.

You don't need to do all steps. You can use "make xconfig" make your changes and then run make again. I would although recommend to delete the /lib/modules/3.???? directory before reinstalling the modules.

Markus