what is vmlinux file ?

gardenair · 03-09-2010, 11:50 PM

Hi,
In the /boot directory I can see files

vmlinux -2.4.20.8
3.0 MB

vmlinux
1.1 MB

please guide me that what is the difference between them ? both files has same name ?

2- what is the meaning of 2.4.20.8 with the vmlinux file ?

thanks
gardenair

Web31337 · 03-10-2010, 12:06 AM

Those look like linux kernel images.
What is your distro? What is your boot loader? See what kernel boots.
That kernel 2.4.20 is quite old btw.

gardenair · 03-10-2010, 12:25 AM

i am using Red Hat Linux 9 . Ia m ia m using the default boot loader .

retired1af · 03-10-2010, 12:54 AM

You should update the kernel. There have been many security updates/fixes since 2.4.x. The repository should have kernel updates you can install to your machine.

i92guboj · 03-10-2010, 03:26 AM

He probably can't use a 2.6 kernel easily. RedHat9 is ancient if my memory serves correctly. Still 2.4 is in good shape, and the last update is from 1st of February (2.4.37.9).

Relating to the original question, we can't be sure about these files. But yeah, those file names match those usually used for kernel images. The numbers are the kernel version. "vmlinuz" alone might be a symlink (usually to the latest kernel you installed). You can check more details about the files by going into /boot and using "ls -l vmlinuz*"

kainosnous · 03-10-2010, 03:45 AM

As i92guboj said, "ls -l /boot/vmlinux*" will give you some information on the files like if one is a link to the other and if not you can see if they are the same size. Also, you can try "file /boot/vmlinux" to make sure that they are kernel files and a little more information.

jamescondron · 03-10-2010, 03:49 AM

vmlinuz; there is a 'z' on the end. Google is your friend here, as is the 'file' command, as thus:

Code:

jc@jcmain:~$ file /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-custom 
/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.30-custom: Linux kernel x86 boot executable RO-rootFS, root_dev 0x802, swap_dev 0x1, Normal VGA

gardenair · 03-10-2010, 04:53 AM

thanks for the replies. well the command " ls -l /boot/vmlinux* " . Here what * means . please just guide me .

2- when i use the command & ls -l /boot/vmlinuz* it show the following output

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jan /boot/vmlinuz...>vmlinux -2.4.20-8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1122186 mAR 14 /BOOT/VMLINUX -2.4.20-8

Plz tell me that what is l the persmission on the linux kernal.
thanks again for the help.

i92guboj · 03-10-2010, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardenair

thanks for the replies. well the command " ls -l /boot/vmlinux* " . Here what * means . please just guide me .

2- when i use the command & ls -l /boot/vmlinuz* it show the following output

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jan /boot/vmlinuz...>vmlinux -2.4.20-8
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1122186 mAR 14 /BOOT/VMLINUX -2.4.20-8

Plz tell me that what is l the persmission on the linux kernal.
thanks again for the help.

'l' means "link". /boot/vmlinuz is a soft/symbolic link (also knowns as "symlink") to /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-8.