Adding Ethernet to kernel without Network support configured
 

Hi,

I'm new to this forum (and Linux in general), so please let me know if I'm leaving information out.

I'm trying to add Ethernet support into a system running Mandrake 9.2, kernel 2.4.22. Network Device Support is not configured, and the Packet socket and Packet filtering options aren't either.

I have setup eth0

1.) verified that modules.conf aliases the device

/etc/modules.conf

alias eth0 8139too

2.) added ifcfg-eth0 to /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes

3.) Installed dhclient

urpmi dhcp-client

I can ping localhost, but I am unable to obtain an ip address. When I try to bring eth0 up ('ifup eth0'), I get an error message indicating I need to configure Packet socket and Packet filtering in the config file. From my reading, dhcpcd requires these as well.

I want to avoid rebuilding the kernel, as there are V&V consequences for doing so.

I would like to understand what Packet Socket and Packet Filtering really provide (I'm not a networking guy), and if there is a way around rebuilding the kernel. If so,
what is it, if not, why not?

if I need to post additional information about the system, please let me know.

Thank you in advance.

I think you're banging your head against a brick wall. If you leave the kernel networking code out of the kernel, you can't expect it to party. The kernel help lists dependencies, and things select & deselect each other in the Makefile. If you leave something essential out, it isn't built, and it's dependencies may not be either. Mandrake-9.2 and kernel 2.4.22 is quite old. You would probably need gcc-2.95-3, although gcc-3.3x might do it. If you have a cd/dvd you can probably grab the stock kernel from that.

Put at it's simplest, networks talk in packets. a socket is a way of communicating with a process. Filtering in this case is code for the kernel to make decisions about packets. I'm no programming guy.