I'm using kernel version 2.4.20-8. I'm planing to upgrade my kernel to 2.4.30. I downloaded the patch and when I run the command patch-kernel I'm getting a error "Current kernel version is 2.4.20-8custom" and it says the current kernel source doesn't match the kernel version. I checked my kernel version using uname -r and it says 2.4.20-8, I donno from where it's getting the "2.4.20-8custom". How to overcome this problem? (I have kept the downloaded patch at /usr/src. And I have a softlink called linux pointing to linux-2.4.20-8. And I'm running the patch-kernel command from /usr/src/)

Looks like you're running a Red hat kernel. Red Hat adds their own patches to their kernels so they wwind up being very different from the official kernel.org kernel releases. Therefore, the kernel.org kernel patches will not work with them. Also, you can only go up one step with a patch, e.g. from 2.4.29 -> 2.4.30. You cannot upgrade the source from 2.4.20 -> 2.4.30 with a patch, even if your 2.4.20 is vanilla.

Solution: download the full 2.4.30 source from kernel.org.

Yes that's right. I'm using redhat kernel. From where can I download the latest version of redhat kernel? Is it freely available from redhat site or do I have to subscribe for it?
I'm bit confused with the versioning of linux kernels. Is it like every linux distribution has it's own versioning or is there is any standard in that? (Like most of the versions are 2.4.X-X)

Are you using RH9 (2.4.20-8 sounds like a RH9 kernel)? If so, you should check www.fedoralegacy.org as Red Hat 9 is no longer supported by Red Hat. There are several kernel updates available as RPMs there. They're all 2.4.20-<Red Hat/Fedora version> though, no 2.4.30.

Basically, Linux Torvalds and co release official versions of the Linux kernel through kernel.org as Major.Minor.Revision or sometimes as Major.Minor.Revision.Minorrevision. So 2.4.20 is an official release, major version 2, minor version 4, revision 20. Now distriburtors like Red Hat and the like add their own stuff the kernel, which they indicated by having a version number like 2.4.20-8 -- the -8 signifies the internal Red Hat revision to the 2.4.20 kernel.

Hi,
Thanks for the info. Yes I'm using Redhat Linux 9. I checked at the site www.fedoralegacy.org. Now I have the following questions.
1. What is the difference between the folders SRPM and i386?
2. What is the difference between folders OS and updates? (Is it a full kernel & patches?)
3. As I already told my current kernel is 2.4.20-8. I understand that I can update it step by step only, which means if I want to upgrade I need to use the patch 2.4.20-9. But I couldn't find this patch there. The latest avaialble kernel version is kernel-source-2.4.20-42.9.legacy.i386.rpm. Is this a upgrade package or a installation package (means by installing this alone can I install kernel 2.4.20-42 )
Finally I'm sorry for replying so late for the earlier mail. I'll see to that I won't repeat it in the future.
Thanks.

You only need the kernel-source package if you want to compile the kernel manually just get the kernel-x.x.x.rpm then rpm -Uvh kernel-x.x.x.rpm.